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IN MINERS CAMP 

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HOW DOES IT SEEM TO GET BACK HERE 



ROSS GRANT 
IN MINERS’ 
CAMP 


JOHN GARLAND 

AUTHOR OF 

“Ross Grant, Tenderfoot” 
“Ross Grant, Gold Hunter” 
“Ross Grant On the Trail” 


Illustrated by R. L. Boyer 



THE PENN PUBLISHING 
COMPANY PHILADELPHIA 
1918 



COPYRIGHT 
1918 BY 
THE PENN 
PUBLISHING 
COMPANY 



Ross Grant in Miners' Camp 


JUL 16 ISIS 

!DcI,A5U1172 




To 

Mr. and Mrs. Charles L. Tewksbury 

whose life in the Wyoming Moiintains 
has made ^*Ross Grant in Miners' Camp '* 
possible^ I cordially dedicate this book 



Introduction 


At the end of his first year as a medical student 
in the University of Pennsylvania, Ross Grant ac- 
cepts a call from Miners* Camp, Wyoming, to act 
as assistant to the mysterious camp physician. 
When he reaches camp he finds the owners of the 
mining claims on Dundee Mountain in a dispute 
over the boundaries of the two central claims. 
Seven and Eight, and the dispute threatens a clash 
into which circumstances force the newcomer. 
This, the final book in the series, deals with this 
clash, and the part played in it by the owners 
of the two claims, Dad Page ** and Kansas ** 
Brown, and deals also with the mysterious camp 
physician. 

In the first book, ** Ross Grant, Tenderfoot,** we 
meet Ross when he first arrives in Wyoming and 
earns his title, **,Doc Tenderfoot.** 

In the second book, “ Ross Grant, Gold Hunter,** 
we find him searching for a cache of free gold in 
order to rescue it from robbers who are trying to 
keep it from the rightful owner. 

5 


INTRODUCTION 


In the third book, Ross Grant on the Trail, 
he engages in an exciting chase after a man who, 
by means of a salted gold mine, seeks to de- 
fraud Lucky Frace, who is a friend of Ross. 


6 


Contents 


I. 

A Call from Wyoming 




II 

II. 

Locked Doors 




39 

III. 

The Hostile Camps 




69 

IV. 

“ The Book of Forgetfulness ” 




92 

V. 

Colliding With a Fist 




III 

VI. 

The Storm Center 




*33 

VII. 

The Trap .... 




*55 

VIII. 

The Sealed Letter 




181 

IX. 

A Safe Fourth . 




209 

X. 

The Morning of the Fifth 




229 

XI. 

A Mysterious “ Get-Away ” 




252 

XII. 

The Son of Dad’s Partner 




274 

XIII. 

A Voice in the Night . 




293 

XIV. 

A Strange Trail 




3*3 

XV. 

The Horns of the Dilemma 




333 

XVI. 

“ The Fifty-Fifty ” . 




362 


7 




Illustrations 


“ How Does it Seem to Get Back Here ? ’ 

“ I Struck a Mighty Good Vein of Ore ” 

“ I Take it in Mighty Good Part 
“ What’s Doing Up Here To-morrow ? ” 

He Looked Down on the First Arrivals 

He Reeled Backward 

A Rope was Swaying Beside the Dripping Rock 


Frontispiece 
. lOI*^ 

. 167 

. 18s / 

• 249 

. 261 

Y 

323 


Ross Grant in Miners* Camp 
















Ross Grant in Miners’ Camp 

CHAPTER I 

A CALL FROM WYOMING 

Ross Grant, freshman “ medic in the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, stuffed his scrawled notes 
on osteology into his pocket and faced a sharp 
April wind. He buttoned his coat across a broad 
chest, turned the collar up to meet his closely 
cropped dark hair, pulled his cap forward until it 
pushed his outstanding ears into yet more promi- 
nent relief, thrust his reddened hands into his coat 
pockets, and sprinted for the dormitory where he 
roomed. Running up th^^ieps he burst into his 
room and fell with avidity on a heap of mail left, 
but a moment before, by the postman. 

The top envelope was postmarked New York 
City and was directed to Ross Grant, Jr. 

“ Me ! ” said Ross aloud. He puffed out his 
lean smooth cheeks and nodded with satisfaction. 
** From father.^^ He held the envelope up against 
the light, noted its single sheet and grinned. 

11 


ROSS GRANT 


Poor correspondents the Grants are, all of us,^' 
he thought, opening the letter. 

“ My dear son,'’ it began, with an absence of 
circumlocution also characteristic of the Grants. 
** Two months ago I bought half of a promising 

mining claim of Dad Page ” 

The dickens you did I ” exclaimed the son 
aloud. ** I didn’t know it.” 

He read on : It is Claim Seven on Dundee in 
Miners’ Camp, and is being worked by Page now. 
I’ve received word in an indirect way that there’s 
trouble between Seven and Eight over the bound- 
aries. What do you know about the matter ? ” 
Nothing,” said Ross positively. ** Absolutely 
nothing. I haven’t heard from Wyoming since I 
left there in September.” 

Then he read the last paragraph of the letter. 
“ I hope you are well both mentally and phys- 
ically ” 

’ I ” ejaculated Ross. What under 
the canopy ” 

He turned the sheet and saw the explanation. 
** How much will you need for spring clothing ? 
I have asked this question twice before.” 

Ross chuckled. “ Isn’t that just like father? ” 
he thought. He never gives side-binders. He 
just brings things home to a fellow in a reminder 
that sticks straight in like a needle. ^ Mentally 
12 


IN MINERS* CAMP 

well ' I Huh I He won't have to ask me a fourth 
time.” 

Nodding emphatically, he read on, the chuckle 
dying in his throat. 

And while I am on this subject,” the elder 
Grant wrote, I want to say further to you that 
while I am not in a position to know what you are 
adding to yourself mentally this year I can see 
what you are losing, and losing more rapidly than 
you realize. I shall leave you to draw your own 
conclusions.” 

“ Whew I ” breathed Ross aloud, his face flush- 
ing, “ that doesn't miss being a side-binder by more 
than a mile I ” 

He could draw his own conclusions easily 
enough. He was getting forgetful and careless in 
what appeared to him little matters. Aunt Anne, 
who had mothered him since he was twelve, had 
labored with him patiently by letter during the 
year, but he was so accustomed to her reminders 
that they made no permanent impression. But 
his father's reminders were another matter. His 
father was a successful business man in New York, 
and was regarded by his son with a large degree 
of affection and pride and awe. The two were, 
unfortunately, not very intimate friends, owing to 
the fact that the boy had spent the formative 
period of his boyhood with his uncle, Dr. Grant, 

13 


ROSS GRANT 

and Aunt Anne, visiting his father and step- 
mother infrequently. These visits had been a 
source of misery to Ross so long as the awe and 
pride were greater than the affection. He had felt 
keenly that he was a disappointment to his father 
because of the profession he had chosen and the 
feeling had added to his natural shyness and 
awkwardness. But the two had grown nearer to 
each other during the past year, the elder Grant 
having arrived at the conclusion that his son was 
worth while even though he preferred to study 
medicine instead of entering the office of Ross 
Grant Senior. Then it was that Ross's affection 
had outrun both pride and awe and he could not 
bear to think of doing anything to lessen his fa- 
ther's newly acquired pride in him. 

He went slowly to the window and made a 
memorandum on the back of the envelope con- 
taining his father's first side-binder." 

X sweater 
X suit 
X overcoat 
X shoes 
X hat 

Then he slipped the letter into his pocket and 
disappearing into the bath room proceeded to rid 
his hands of an accumulation of ink from his 
fountain pen. 


14 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


“ Hello — in the bath room there I came a voice 
from across the hall. 

Ross set the door ajar and helloed back again 
while plying the soap industriously on the stains. 

“ J^ow, Grant I the voice continued, ‘‘ don't say 
you haven't time to-night, because to-morrow's 
Saturday." 

Well," non-committally. 

Say now," the voice reasoned, be a sport for 
once this year. We're going out to Germantown 
for supper at seven, and you're going too I " 

“ Am I ? Don't be so sure. What do you get ? " 

" Lobster salad plus." 

** And what does it cost? " 

Two." 

There was a sound of splashing water, then a 
muffled voice : " I'd like to acquire a supply of 
lobster salad, all right, but I can't see myself pried 
loose from two dollars for it I " 

Shucks I " called the student across the hall. 

Get a little fun out of life." 

" I do — without a headache the next morning," 
defensively. 

A brief silence across the hall answered this and 
then the voice uprose again ignoring the thrust. 

We want you to spin us your Western yarns. 

There'll be a mess of seniors there to hear 

Loosen up, Cost Grant, for once ! " 

15 


ROSS GRANT 


** Nope,” said Cost ” Grant with finality. ^‘The 
two dollars would be gone, and so would the taste 
of the salad, in about two minutes, and I can 
spin all my Western experiences right here in this 
house.” 

Huh I ” scoffed the voice. I bet if I had a 
father in Wall Street I’d go through college eating 
lobster salad every day instead of making one dol- 
lar do the work of five ! ” 

If you had my father,” retorted Ross swiftly, 
** you’d either do as he wished you to or you’d do 
as I’m doing I ” 

Queer father ! ” The voice across the hall was 
a mere mutter now, but Ross heard and answered 
hotly, the more hotly because he agreed privately 
with the mutter. 

** He gives me my choice, all right, without any 
kick coming from him.” 

“ Your choice and your clothes I ” the voice in- 
terrupted half humorously, half indignantly. 

‘‘ The clothes are no small item c " expense, and 
the choice is everything I ” still ’lotly. If I 
should go into his office as he ishes me to I 
could have plenty of lobster sup ars — and other 
things. But as long as I insist on becoming a 
surgeon I’ve got to make myself one without much 
help from him. I’ve taken my own course, and 
there^s no kick coming from me either.’^ 

i6 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


“ Well, Cost,'' the voice was resigned, go your 
own way. I never saw a fellow so determined to 
saw folks up. I hope they'll enjoy it as much as 
you will." 

Ross laughed as he departed for the library, but 
the laugh was forced. Loyalty to his father for- 
bade him from allowing any criticism to go unan- 
swered, but he could not — yet — see the wisdom 
which Ross Grant Senior was exercising in allow- 
ing his son to make his own way through college. 
Ross Grant Junior would have cheerfully absorbed 
the lobster salad suppers that ** Cost " Grant could 
not afford. There were other points of wisdom in 
the elder Grant's treatment of his son. In return 
for services rendered him in Wyoming the father 
had paid the son not in money, but in a share in 
a gold mining claim," telling him to do with it 
as he saw fit. This ownership had forced Ross's 
attention into business channels, and after due 
consideration he had disposed of his share for a 
thousand dollars, reserving a royalty on any 
metals mined on the claim. 

He explained the reason for this sale to his father 
in the autumn just before entering the University. 

You see," he began, “ I had expected to work 
my way through college from the first. But I'm 
entering not prepared very well and the first 
year's going to be a corker of a grind. So I'm 

17 


ROSS GRANT 


not going to hunt up a job until my sophomore 
year, and I had to have that thousand/^ 

“Then,^' asked the older Grant gravely, ‘‘you 
expect to make the thousand stretch over your 
first year, do you ? 

Ross produced a sheet of items and handed it to 
his father. “ Tve figured on six hundred for the 
first year, and then added a hundred for unfore- 
seen expenses. They^re always cropping up, you 
know, where you least expect ^em I 

Then it was that the elder man, glancing down 
the list of items, found himself saying something 
he had not intended to say : 

“See here, Ross, you may look to me for all 
clothing of any sort during your course.’’ 

And when the boy, surprised and grateful, burst 
into a spontaneous “Thank you, sir, I wasn’t 
looking for that I ” Ross Senior had hard work 
to stick to his resolution and keep his hands off 
his check book. 

Ross Junior, however, was not now connecting 
such a state of mind with his father as he ap- 
proached the library. He was merely considering 
the feasibility of adding half a dozen shirts and 
two neckties to the list on the back of the envel- 
ope, when he was hailed from the library entrance 
by a group of students corralling in their midst a 
man of dignity, advanced years and gray hair. 

I8 


IN MINERS' CAMP 


Half a dozen voices introduced Ross : Here^s 
the chap we told you about, Mr. Scudder ” — “ This 
is Ross Grant '' — Late of the Wild and Woolly 
West'^ — “ He41 yarn it about Miners^ Camp for 
you — “He's our only exhibit from Wyoming!'' 
— “ Go to it, Cost." 

Yet other voices were simultaneously telling 
Ross that Mr. Scudder was an alumnus of the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, college, and that he had 
an alumnus brother — a medic. Then they allowed 
the gray-haired man to speak. 

“ Grant," he began shaking hands cordially, 
“these fellows tell me that you spent a year out in 
the Wyoming Shoshones, around Miners' Camp? " 

“ Yes, sir, I did. Last year it was." 

Mr. Scudder fixed keen gray eyes on the young 
man. “Did you? Isn't that strange ?" musingly. 

“I never dreamed of meeting here " He 

changed abruptly into brisk questioning, “ What 
sort of a place is Miners' Camp?" 

Ross hesitated, because the question called for 
more time in answering than he had at command. 
“ It's a dozen log shacks and two boarding houses 
and some bunk houses scattered along Wood River 
up in a canon two miles above sea level. There's 
an eighty mile stage ride to get into it, and you 
can neither get in nor out, sometimes, especially at 
this time of year." 


19 


ROSS GRANT 


“ Why not ? ” 

** Snow^s too deep/’ 

“ What 1 Now ? in April ? ” incredulously. 

** Yes, now,” E,oss declared. It snows every 
month in the year, but now all of our April show- 
ers are falling there in the shape of ten-feet-deep 
snow-storms. The stage trail gets blocked some- 
times so it takes the whole camp days to dig it 
out.” 

‘‘ Eighty miles from a railroad I ” repeated the 
stranger musingly. How do they get supplies 
into camp? ” 

‘ Packed ’ up by stage or freighter outfit.” 

M-m, yes. Stores up there ? ” 

Ross regarded his questioner curiously as he an- 
swered. Why, a sort of a store. Belongs to one 
of the companies.” To himself he added, What 
under the sun is he agent for ? ” 

“ Any church ? ” asked Mr. Scudder. 

“ No.” 

School?” 

Ross grinned. ** No, there are no children to go 
to school — no women there — just men.” 

Saloon?” 

No saloon.” 

His questioner looked incredulous, repeating. 

No saloon ? Boys must have a dry time.” 

Ross hesitated. *^Of course, I’m not saying 
20 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


there's no drinking in Miners' Camp. I know the 
stuff goes in there to individuals. The mining 
companies can't help that. But it's against Wy- 
oming law for a saloon to be established within so 
many miles of a mining camp — I've forgotten the 
number, and it's to the interest of the companies 
to see to it that the law is carried out, too, with 
the men all handling explosives." 

“ Uh-huh," nodded his questioner. Then he 
changed the subject abruptly. How long since 
the mining companies have employed a doctor ? " 

Ross looked his surprise. ** A doctor ? They 

don't employ one " 

Yes, they do," contradicted Mr. Scudder. “ I 
know, because he's my brother. He's there now." 

Really I " cried Ross. ** Something new, then. 
Last year there was no doctor — that is, no regular 
physician — nearer than Cody, eighty miles away." 

Mr. Scudder nodded and smiled. Well, there 
is now. I think my brother's attention was first 
called to the place by an investment he made. He 
bought some shares in a promising mining claim 
somewhere around there — don't know where, but 
I remember it's being worked by a man they call 
* Kansas Brown.' " 

Ross laughed. Let the West alone for nick- 
names. No one keeps his own. But see here ! " 
he pulled out his watch and glanced at it hur- 
21 


ROSS GRANT 


riedly. I^m sorry, but I've got to hustle to a lec- 
ture — Gaynor on Osteology," he added explana- 
torily. 

** Dr. Gaynor I " repeated Mr. Scudder with lifted 
eyebrows. He's the man who took my brother's 
place ten years ago — a classmate he is, too." 

Your brother's place 1 " echoed Ross. Was 
your brother a lecturer here once ? " 

Mr. Scudder nodded in evident pride. " For 
two years, yes." 

Ross backed away from the group thoughtfully. 

Lecturer in the University of Pennsylvania ten 
years ago, and now company doctor in Miners' 
Camp." He whistled a low note as he hurried 
down the street. " Well, that beats me I Some 
change that I " 

When he entered the lecture room, Dr. Gaynor, 
the surgeon lecturer, was standing behind his desk 
talking in an undertone with one of the instructors. 
As Ross passed the desk he heard the instructor 

say, ** He's in ten " the rest of the sentence 

escaping his ears. Thinking nothing of the words 
he sought his allotted chair and on the broad arm 
opened his note-book, uncapped his pen and held 
himself in readiness to absorb the lecture. 

The lecturer was a squarely built man in mid- 
dle life. The predominating impression he gave 
Ross was strength. The boy knew in a vague sort 
22 


IN MINERS* CAMP 


of way that he was of medium height, neatly 
dressed, slightly bald, gray and smooth faced. 
But through this assortment of nameable char- 
acteristics leaped the indefinable one of inner 
strength and a self-confidence that was far from 
conceit. 

When the instructor had left the room Dr. Gay- 
nor picked up his notes and fingered them ab- 
sently, running his glance over the incoming stu- 
dents. To him they were known only as the oc- 
cupants of chairs with numbers. Ross's chair was 
numbered 10, and it was to 10 that the surgeon's 
eyes returned thoughtfully when the last chair 
was filled. Ross, however, intent on the notes of 
the last lecture, did not notice the scrutiny, un- 
usual in itself because of the extreme impersonal 
relations existing between the chiefs " in the 
medical college and the students. This was in 
conformity to an unwritten rule enforced by the 
students themselves, which made impartiality ab- 
solute. 

At the end of the hour and the lecture, Ross 
hurried from the room and going down the stairs 
two at a jump, was starting across the campus at 
the same rapid pace toward his room when a sud- 
den recollection halted him. He did not intend 
to reach the dormitory before the fellows left for 
Germantown and the lobster supper. He had not 

23 


ROSS GRANT 


the price of the supper in his pocket, and he was 
unwilling to be ‘^joshed about it further. There- 
fore he wandered past the house down to the corner 
bookstore in front of which a boy with red ears 
and nose presided over a news stand. Ross bought 
the first paper his hand lighted on, the Chicago 
News, and standing with his back to the wind and 
his shoulders hunched up, glanced idly over the 
pages until a paragraph down in one corner of the 
last page caught his eye. 

This beats me I ” he exclaimed. ** I^ve caught 
Wyoming coming and going to-day and here it is 
again I ** 

Heh ? ** said the newsboy, kicking his shoes on 
the end of the stand to keep his feet warm. ** Wot’s 
that?^^ 

Ross read the paragraph again : ** It's Miners' 
Camp. Place I know about I I'll cut this out 
and send it to father." 

It was a brief and sensational paragraph to the 
effect that six-shooters, which were supposed to 
have gone out of fashion in Wyoming, were again 
in evidence on the owners of mining claims located 
on Dundee Mountain in the Shoshones. Owing 
to some carelessness in the surveys of the moun- 
tain," the paragraph stated, ** claim owners are 
finding themselves in a serious * line fence ' mix-up. 
The storm center is at present on claims Seven 
24 


IN MINE,RS^ CAMP 

and Eight, worked by ^ Dad ^ Page and ‘ Kansas ’ 
Brown/^ 

With the paper stuffed into his pocket, Ross 
presently mounted to his room in the solitude he 
desired, and sat down to answer his father’s 
queries. This is the list of the things I need this 
spring,” he wrote. ” I’m sorry I forgot to answer 
the question before.” 

Here he paused, gnawed the end of his pen a 
moment and then with his mouth a straight and 
determined line, he added defensively, ” I may be 
forgetful about clothes and other things like that, 
but I never forget anything that concerns my 
work.” 

As he dropped a period he reread the sentence 
and his lips relaxed a bit. He read it again and 
frowned. At the third reading he reached for an 
ink eraser. ” That sounds— bombastic,” he said 
aloud and industriously rubbed over the blatant 
sentence without, however, succeeding in erasing 
it. “ I know what father would say — he’d say 
that anything I had to do was my business as long 
as I was doing it.’' 

Over the bombastic sentence he wrote, in more 
humble terms, ” I know I’m getting forgetful 
about things on the side, but I try not to be heed- 
less when it comes to my work.” 

In answering the question about Dundee Seven, 

25 


ROSS GRANT 


Ross added the perfunctory information, *^The 
paragraph I^m enclosing will help explain mat- 
ters, perhaps. I found it in a Chicago paper to- 
day.^' 

Stuffing this into an envelope he directed it 
hurriedly and running down-stairs sought the mail 
box on the corner and dropped the letter in with 
a thud. 

There I he thought, sprinting for the dormi- 
tory. “ That^s off my conscience.^^ At the door 
of the house he paused shivering. ** I wonder 
now if I sealed that envelope.'^ He mounted the 
stairs slowly. Did I, or didn’t I ? I vum I I 
don’t know. I hope father won’t get hold of it 
first if I didn’t. I guess the mail goes through 
his stenographer’s hands first always. I hope it 
does ! ” 

As soon as he reached his room, however, all 
thought of a possibly unsealed letter, spring cloth- 
ing and Dundee Seven passed out of the young 
student’s mind. The erased sentence told the 
truth. The moment Ross turned to any subject 
bearing on his work his heedlessness became 
thoughtfulness and ^every faculty stood at atten- 
tion. Donning his green eye-shade he pushed a 
mess of books, papers, neckties and collars away 
from the foreground of his study table and opened 
a well-thumbed book on the Central Nervous Sys- 
26 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


tern, humped himself over it comfortably, elbows 
on the table, his head supported on his hands. 
The dormitory was unusually quiet, the noise 
centers having moved temporarily to a certain 
restaurant in Germantown. 

It was not difficult for the embryo surgeon to 
lose himself in the intricacies of the general Cen- 
tral Nervous System so completely that his own 
special one caused him to jump when a single loud 
thump on the door was immediately followed by a 
voice : 

Are you here. Grant, or in Germantown ? 

Here,^^ yelled Ross. 

The inquirer came in asking further : What^s 
the matter with Germantown ? 

Town's all right," retorted Ross, “ but not the 
price." 

Lambert, an intern in the University Hospital, 
threw himself down on the bed, sprawling his legs 
over the side with a due regard to the semi-clean- 
liness of the spread. He removed his eye-glasses 
and laid them on a stand at the head of the bed, 
propped his shoulders up on both pillows and re- 
garded Ross lazily. 

Cost ! " he philosophized. ** Always ‘ cost ' 
with you and me. Dollars ! The dickens I I 
could make use of a lot more myself." He bur- 
rowed deeper into the pillows. If you don't 
27 


ROSS GRANT 


want to come to spectacles, son,^^ he advised with 
a lazy wave of the hand, turn your back to that 

light, hold up your book and 

A loud exclamation from Ross cut the advice in 
two. He had reached for his notes on the Central 
Nervous System and his hand had fallen on the 
clipping from the Chicago News — the paragraph 
that he had informed his father was contained in 
the letter which had just left his hands. 

Now father will have another on me ! ” he 
exclaimed. He jerked the green shade off and 
stared ruefully at Lambert, fingering the offending 
slip of paper. 

WhaVs the racket ? ” asked Lambert. 

Ross explained. 

Getting careless, eh, in your old age I ** com- 
mented Lambert. “ We don^t have a department 
here to teach a cure for that, do we ? Great over- 
sight on the part of the medical fathers ! It seems 
to be up to each fellow to cure himself without the 
application of 

** Oh, father can provide enough applications ! 
interrupted Ross, ** and if any are lacking, my 
uncle — the doctor uncle that brought me up, you 
know, can furnish a supply. And Aunt Anne 
comes in strong on any lack from the other two I ” 
“ And still you forget I ejaculated Lambert. 
Exactly proves what I’ve previously and afore- 
28 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


time mentioned — namely and to wit, that it^s up 
to each of us to cure himself.’^ 

But when you^re simply eaten up with your 
work I Ross began impatiently, ** other things get 
by and you can^t help yourself. A fellow can’t 
remember everything.” 

** Well, in this case there are no bones broken, 
are there ? ” the other inquired. A two cent 
stamp will repair all damages.” 

‘‘ That’s just the trouble,” returned Ross quickly. 

A two cent stamp will merely prove to father 
that I’ve been forgetful again, and he has no 
patience with forgetfulness.” 

Cut it out then 1 ” advised Lambert. Ampu- 
tate it.” He chuckled in approval of his surgical 
pun and stared drowsily at the nickel clock ticking 
loudly on a shelf above the table. 

If that clock isn’t an hour fast it ought to be ! ” 

Ross adjusted his eye-shade again, answering 
absently : It’s exactly right, that clock is. Got 
to go back to the hospital this evening ? ” 

” Yep — in half an hour.” 

Ross enclosed the newspaper cutting in an 
envelope, carefully sealed it, directed it to his 
father and dropped it in Lambert’s hat. ‘‘There 1 ” 
he exclaimed forcefully. “ Now if you fail to mail 
that something will fall on you the next time we 
meet, and it won’t be anything light either I ” 

29 


ROSS GRANT 


Lambert’s only reply was made through his nose : 
<< Yeh — I’d like to lie here and sleep for a week.” 

Ross turned to his notes and began deciphering 
his written remarks on the Nervous System while 
his guest muttered, still through his nose : 

M-m — there’s something I’ve been going to say 
to you for days. M-m, when I see you it ain’t 
there and when it’s there I don’t see you — so ” 

A muffled snore finished the statement, followed 
by others until the nickel clock warned Ross that 
the sleeper’s time was up. 

“ Hi, Lambert I ” he called. Come out of 
that ! ” 

^‘Huh? What? WhereamI?” Thehalfawak- 
ened intern sat up bewildered, dropping his feet 
heavily to the floor. 

You’re right here now, but you’re due at the 
hospital in ten minutes,” explained Ross. “ Better 
get a gait on.” 

The intern rubbed his eyes open and threw up 
his arms in a prodigious and noisy yawn. Then, 
suddenly, he dropped them, exclaiming : 

Now I know what it is I wanted to say — there’s 
an old chap over in the ward, a charity patient, 
that would throw a fit if he could see you, because 
you’ve tasted the air and water of Wyoming.” 

Is he from Wyoming ? ” asked Ross, at once 
interested, 


30 


IN MINERS' CAMP 


“ Yes, and every other state in the West, if you 
believe him. Better go see him some afternoon.^^ 
All right. I'll go the first minute I get time." 
Do it." The intern arose reluctantly. You'll 
find a long-lost brother. When he's himself he’s 
quiet, but when he's a degree off in his head the 
flood-gates are up and the words come in torrents. 
He saw something in a newspaper to-day that got 
him going — some Chicago paper it was — about 
Wyoming." 

Did he see that ? ” cried Ross. Must be the 
same thing I saw. It's in this envelope now. Bet 
you I will go see him — sure ! " 

He'd fall on your neck if he were able to get 
up," interrupted the intern, but as it is he'll 
probably expect you to fall on his. Ask for 
‘ Razorback ' Jones if you want him to love you 
all the days of your life. That's his pet name, it 
seems, in the West ! " 

Ross laughed. “ Long and bony, is he ? " 
Young Dr. Lambert drifted toward the door. 
** Yes. At his best you might have called him 
bony merely, but now, at his worst, he's all bone." 

After the intern left, Ross, grinning, wrote, 
“ Razorback Jones " on his calendar pad. ** Mon- 
day I'll go," he decided, and Monday he did go — 
but not at the right time. He had forgotten that 
the intern said afternoon " and presented him- 

31 


ROSS GRANT 


self in the office of the hospital in the morning 
between two lectures when he had a free hour. 
The stenographer occupied the office alone and to 
her Ross preferred his request for a call on Razor- 
back Jones. 

'^From two to five are calling hours/^ smiled 
the stenographer. 

Oh — yes ! muttered Ross. “ I remember 

now — Lambert did say afternoon. 

The girFs laughing voice followed him as he 
retreated to the door. ** Are you one of Razor- 
backus friends ? ” 

Ross shook his head. ** I want to be, that^s all. 
Fve never seen him.^^ 

** You^ll want to be more than ever when you 
do see him,^^ laughed the girl. We all are in- 
terested in his stories — and he sure tells enough 
of ’em. I don’t know when to believe ’em and 
when not. Just now he wants to see some one 
from Wyoming.” 

I’m a good one for him to see, then I ” ex- 
claimed Ross. 

The girl looked at him with increased interest. 
“ Are you a Wyomingite ? ” 

No, not in the first place. But I was there all 
last year, up in the mining region.” 

Then you ought to come and see him, sure ! ” 
declared the stenographer enthusiastically. He 
32 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


wants some one to write a letter for him. A lot 
of us have offered to do it, but no I It must be 
written by some one who understands gold mining 
— quartz mining. He^s kept that going for twenty- 
four hours — ^ Some one must write who’ll under- 
stand ’ and it seems no one can understand except 
some one from some gold mining place.” 

Wonder what he has on his mind,” mused 
Ross. ‘‘ ril come. Let’s see. I haven’t time 
this afternoon, but to-morrow I guess I can get in 
a call.” 

But, before he found time for the promised call, 
something occurred of so unusual a nature that 
the Westerner was driven completely out of his 
mind. The unusual was nothing less than a 
summons to call on Dr. Gaynor at his office in 
the city. It came the following morning by way 
of a note from his secretary and contained no ex- 
planation of the object of the astonishing summons. 
What was the matter? Had he done something 
flagrantly wrong ? He knew he had not. Even 
if he had. Dr. Gaynor would have known nothing 
about it. It was .not the surgeon’s business to 
correct nor even encourage students, but to give 
of his knowledge and experience to a lot of num- 
bered and occupied chairs. Furthermore, on ac- 
count of the rough zeal with which the students 
upheld the unwritten rule which forbade any per- 
33 


ROSS GRANT 


sonal connection between the chiefs '' and the 
students, Ross was alarmed over Dr. Gaynor's dis- 
covery that chair 10 held him. He swallowed his 
heart repeatedly between the arrival of the note 
and three o’clock in the afternoon, the time set for 
the interview, being careful to mention the matter 
to no one, not even Lambert. In the surgeon’s 
outer office he scanned the waiting patients anx- 
iously to discover any possible connection with the 
University by which news of his being there might 
be taken back to the upholders of that unwritten 
rule. The patients were all strangers, however, 
indifferent strangers, and the boy was not allowed 
to linger among them long but was promptly 
summoned to the surgeon’s private office. 

He found Dr. Gaynor seated before his table, 
hunting for something in one of the drawers. 
Still swallowing apprehensively, Ross sat down on 
the edge of the chair on the opposite side of the 
table and waited. He looked strangely out of 
place in the patient’s chair with his big muscles 
and a tanned face from which glowed a health 
that only clean living and activity can give. 

Well, Grant,” asked the surgeon absently 
without looking up, how are you making it in 
college ? ” 

Ross got nearer the edge of his chair. He 
cleared his throat and answered honestly, Pretty 
34 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


well for me ; but that wouldn’t mean much for 
some of the other fellows.” 

Dr. Gaynor paused in his search to look at the 
boy. How’s that ? ” he asked. 

“ I mean,” explained Ross, that I have to plug 
away harder than a lot of the fellows do — I don’t 
get things through my head so easily.” 

“ And you realize you don’t ? ” asked the doctor 
quickly. 

“ Why, yes, of course I Can’t help but realize 
it,” declared Ross wonderingly. 

The doctor leaned back in his swivel chair, a 
letter in his hand. He regarded Ross with keen 
interest. What are you going to do about it — 
give up ? ” 

Give up I ” repeated Ross. Give up I ” His 
eyes narrowed and his chin shot out after the 
manner of the Grant family. I guess not. Why 
— I’m going to make a surgeon — and a good one, 
too I ” 

The doctor nodded. ** It’s not always the man 
who stands at the head of his classes in college who 
stands at the head of his profession afterward.” 

No, but I’d like to stand at the head in college 
just long enough to see how I’ll feel in after life I ” 
returned Ross quickly. 

Dr. Gaynor laughed, then abruptly changed the 
subject. 


35 


ROSS GRANT 


** It's not often/' he began, that a chap of your 
build occupies that chair. Where did you get 
those muscles ? " 

Ross grinned, regarding his hands and wrists 
rather sheepishly. At the business end of a 
pickaxe and shovel out in Wyoming." 

The doctor nodded. The information did not 
seem to surprise him. ‘‘ I'm going out there my- 
self this summer. Going to take a month off. 
How came you to go? " 

** Father sent me," Ross explained. He used 
to knock about among the mountains when he 
was a young man. He was ' quartz crazy ' for a 
while, and invested in some gold mining claims 
in the Shoshones — he sent me out to help work 
one." 

Uh-huh," assented Dr. Gaynor. So you 
worked all day — and nights, evenings ? " 

Ross looked puzzled. “Nights," he repeated. 
“ Nights I was so tired and sleepy sometimes I 
couldn't remember getting into my bunk when 
I'd find myself there in the morning. Sleep I and 
eat I " Ross drew a long breath. Words failed 
him. “ Well, I should say so I " he ended. 

The doctor nodded and, opening the letter, 
glanced down the first page. “ Now as to what I 
wanted to see you about to-day — I'm looking for a 
student mentioned in this letter, a freshman med- 
36 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


ical called, in Wyoming, * Doc Tenderfoot.' .Know 
anything about him ? '' 

What ? ” Ross almost shouted in his astonish- 
ment. Doc Tenderfoot I But then,'' restraining 
himself, there may be a dozen by that name." 

Dr. Gaynor looked up smiling quizzically. 

What do you know about that name ? " 

Ross countered with a question, Where’s the 
letter from ? " 

Wyoming — Miners' Camp, Big Horn County." 
The doctor read the directions from the letter. 

Ross drew a long breath. Now, if that isn't 
the queerest I " 

What is? " asked the doctor, still smiling. 

Ross smoothed his cap. Why — I was called 

that out there last year." 

For a long moment Dr. Gaynor said nothing. 
He tipped his chair back and fitted the ends of 
his fingers together while he stared into vacancy 
and ceased to smile. Then he said slowly with 
thoughtful pauses between statements : This 
letter is from an old classmate of mine — Dr. 
Scudder. He went out to Miners' Camp last 
winter. There's no nurse to be had there, of 
course, and he " 

Here the speaker stopped and alternately studied 
the rug and Ross. Then he made an abrupt half- 
remark, Grant, Dr. Scudder is a " 

37 


ROSS GRANT 


He paused again, fitted his finger-tips together 
with care and began on another tack : Scudder 
writes that he wants an assistant this summer. 
And because of what he has heard about you — 
about ' Doc Tenderfoot,^ he wants me to hunt him 
up and send him out there.^' 

** Me ? cried Ross. 

Dr. Qaynor opened his hands and threw them 
out in a peculiar gesture. Yes, the job is yours 
if you want it — and I hope. Grant, that you^ll 
take it.^' 


3B 


CHAPTER II 


LOCKED DOORS 

One sunny morning in June Ross Grant dragged 
two battered suit cases out of his clothes-press and 
planted them, open, in the middle of the floor. 
He took off his coat, rolled up his sleeves, turned 
the key in the door to insure the privacy neces- 
sary to strenuous packing and began work. Pres- 
ently the door rattled. The rattle brought no 
response from the worker. 

Letter here. Grant, a voice called, under the 
door.^' 

Ross fell on it eagerly as it was pushed under. 
He recognized the careless direction, the postage 
stamp stuck on the envelope awry. He had re- 
ceived only two such missives during the year. 
Picking up a knife he slit the envelope hastily, 
saying disappointedly : 

‘‘ It^s from Omaha. I was hoping Nick was in 
the mountains already.*’ 

Then he read : 

“ Dear Doc : 

'' Yours rec’d. Glad you’re going to be in 
camp this summer. So am I, but not yet. I am 
39 


ROSS GRANT 


going to Saint Louis with one of the fellows for a 
couple of weeks after school closes, and that won^t 
be till the 20th. So I can't reach Miners' be- 
fore the middle of July. Then we will do more 
talking than either of us can do on paper. Did 
you know that Dad is in an awful row over Seven 
and Eight? If you don't you'll find out quick 
enough when you reach camp. Can't bear to have 
a row going on and not be in it from the start, but 
guess there'll be some of it left when I get there. 
And did you know that Lucky Frace is in 'Frisco 
getting together enough men with money to form 
a mining company to work the Elk Hoof mine ? 
He expects to get at work in September. We may 
miss seeing him, as I have to come back to school 
September 1st this year. 

“Well, so long till the middle of July. Long- 
est letter I ever wrote. 

“ Nicholas Page." 

Ross laughed. “Just like ‘The Monkey'! 
Wonder if he still wants to join the Wild West 
Show.'* 

Nicholas Page, Dad Page's adopted son, nick- 
named “ The Monkey " on account of his agility, 
was three years younger than Ross, but the boys 
had been together much the summer before and 
were warm friends. 

Ross was stuffing the letter back into its envel- 
ope when there sounded a heavy footstep in the 
hall, and the door-knob turned without results, to 
40 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


the evident surprise of the turner. Then Lam- 
bert^s voice uprose in injured tones. 

“ Hang it all, Grant, have I come all this way 

to see a woolly Westerner ” 

The door opened suddenly, too suddenly for 
Lambert, who was pushing against it. He cata- 
pulted into the room, over the suit cases, and 
brought up on his favorite resting place — the 
bed. Here he spread himself out restfully, 
asking : 

“ Why the locked door ? ” 

“ To keep out the rabble,'^ replied Ross, wiping 
the perspiration from his face. I^ve got only an 
hour now to get things jammed into these bags. 
Then I^m off for a place where locks on doors are 
unheard of.^^ 

I wish,^^ declared Lambert with energy, that 
I were going with you. Say I Land me a job out 
there. Must be a good place to get in a little 
practice.’^ Then, without awaiting a reply, ^'Gee 
whiz ! If this room doesn’t look as though a 
Western cyclone had struck it ! ” 

Ross, in front of the study table, was sorting 
papers in frenzied haste and filling the waste- 
basket with refuse. He tumbled his letters over 
and picking up an envelope a trifle fatter than the 
rest, opened it, hesitated, and instead of dropping 
it into the waste-basket, shied it at a suit case. It 

41 


ROSS GRANT 


fell short of its aim and Lambert dragged himself 
off the bed and rescued it. 

A typed direction/^ he remarked lazily. “ She 
can pound a typewriter, can^t she? 

“ Huh 1 exclaimed Ross. Read it and you*ll 
find the writer is a ‘ he/ and that he can dictate a 
letter straight to the point, several points in fact I 

Lambert sat back on his heels and opened the 
sheets. Your father, eh ? He read down the 
first page, looked thoughtful and proceeded to the 
second, muttering, ‘‘ I guess he's right as well as 
* right to the point.' " 

‘‘It just happens," explained Ross apologetic- 
ally, “ that father has run across half my forget- 
fulness this year — I seem possessed to be headless 
where he is concerned. Maybe that’s because I’d 
rather have any one else find my faults out. But 
I’ve forgotten to answer his questions, and forgot- 
ten to put in a newspaper paragraph that I wrote 
was being enclosed, and I forgot to write to Miners’ 
Camp to the superintendent of the Gales Ridge 
mine when he asked me to — so now,’’ ruefully, 
“ I’m catching it, as you see.’’ 

The young intern rocked slowly back and forth 
on his feet. “ There’s one thing here that he says,’’ 
thoughtfully, “ that I presume is dead right.’’ 

“What’s that?’’ 

Lambert opened the letter again and read : 
42 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


** * You tell me you are never careless or forgetful 
about your work. That may be true now. But 
will it be true five years from now ? Carelessness 
is a progressive habit. It has a hold on you out- 
side your profession, but I have not the slightest 
belief that it will stay outside long, being, as I have 
said, a progressive habit. Competition is too keen 
these days along every line, and the price of suc- 
cess is too high for you to plant any obstacles in 
your path, and ' especially obstacles with such 
tenacious roots and bushy tops as carelessness and 
forgetfulness. Cut them out.' " 

Lambert folded up the sheets and returned them 
to the envelope. ** Several points there, as you 
say," he remarked thoughtfully, and it would be 
well if they stuck into a few others 1 know as well 
as you I " 

Thoughtfully he put the letter in the suit case, 
muttering that it would stand more than one 
reading. 

Ross, who was holding in his hand a small and 
thin book, hesitated and then grinning sheep- 
ishly, tossed it to Lambert. As long as you have 
read that letter and agreed with it you might as 
well see what father had asked me to do." 

Lambert opened the book and looked it over 
with puzzled eye while the other explained : 

Father followed after that letter. He sent me 
43 


RO^S GRANT 


a telegram to meet him at the Broad Street sta- 
tion. He stayed between two trains, and if you 
think that letter is a broadside you ought to have 
heard him fill in that half hour I Ross squirmed 
uncomfortably at the recollection. 

‘‘ After he had let off steam about me he told 
me about himself. He told me that when he was 
my age he was the most forgetful chap you ever 
saw. Said he could remember that his own head 
sat on his shoulders and that was about all. Said 
he was fired from job after job because of his care- 
lessness, until he woke up and decided to quit. 
And,^^ concluded Ross abruptly, pointing to the 
book, ** that^s the plan he invented to cure him- 
self, and now he has passed it on to me.'’ 

What under the sun " Lambert was be- 

ginning when Ross interrupted : 

** It's a tabulated journal of Carelessness. I'm 
to keep it down to the letter and submit it to 
father the 15th of each month." 

The intern examined it with interest and amuse- 
ment. It was arranged in the form of a journal 
for the month of June 16th and ending July 15th, 
two pages being devoted to each day. Under 
each date were four headings typewritten. 

‘ I. Things I Have Forgotten to Do,' " Lam- 
bert read aloud under June 1. Half-way down 
the page he read, “ * II. Immediate Results of 
44 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


1/ At the head of the second page he saw, 
“ ^ III. What I Have Done to Remedy I.^ 
Half-way down that page appeared the last head- 
ing, '' ' IV. Results op HI.' " 

Lambert looked up grinning. “ Say 1 If this 
ain't a great scheme I never saw one. The gen- 
eral idea, of course, is to break you of the habit of 
forgetting " 

“ By making it more trouble to write down all 
that stuff than to remember in the first place," 
Ross finished the sentence quickly. 

“Yes," added Lambert more slowly, “and by 
making you trace out step by step the actual re- 
sults of your carelessness. Say ! " with an access 
of enthusiasm, “your father has a head on him, 
all right ! " 

“ My father," returned Ross proudly, “ is a self- 
made man. He has a head, and it has got him 
somewhere. He used it, and I expect it bothers 
him to see me wasting any of the little brains I 
have inherited from him I I expect he carries 
more details in one cell of gray matter than I do 
in my whole head, and yet he finds time outside 
of a big business to remember and fix up for me a 
scheme that he declares made his memory what 
it is." 

Ross's voice was rueful as well as proud. His 
pride in his father did not quite overcome his 
45 


ROSS GRANT 


natural distaste for that unique journal, the work 
it entailed and the confession of shortcomings it 
would bear to his father. 

And you expect to do the thing, do you ? 

Ross looked in surprise at the questioner. Of 
course I expect to,*^ he returned in a wondering 
voice. ‘‘ Father asked me to.^^ 

Lambert bit his lip. ** Yes — I see. Well, have 
you begun ? 

‘‘Just turn over three leaves there and you'll 
find out." 

Lambert turned the leaves. Under June 17th 
he read : “ ‘ I. Forgot to return library book and 
kept it over time five days. II. Cost me five 
cents. III. Returned book with cash. IV. Sat- 
isfied the librarian. Walked two miles to save 
the five cents in car fare.' " 

Lambert burst out laughing and slapped his 
knee. “ Will your father take time to read this 
sort of thing ? " 

“ You bet he will ! He won't miss an entry. 
But so far, you see, there are only two and they 
don't amount to anything I " 

“ I see," turning the leaves, “ and your hope is 
that there won't be more I The 15th of July then, 
as I understand it, you ship this book back to 
your father and your father sends you a July and 
August record, eh ? " 


46 


IN MINERS' CAMP 


That’s the idea — yes.” 

Lambert rose and held out his hand. “ So long, 
Grant. Success go with you. I hope you find 
Scudder a jolly and agreeable M. D. If there are 
any vacancies out there, book yours truly for 
one 1 ” 

As he opened the door he paused to inquire ; 

Going to Wyoming straight from here, are 
you ? ” 

“No,” rejoined Ross; “I’m going to Uncle 
Fred’s for a few days. He’s a doctor in the moun- 
tains above Wilkes Barre. I’ve lived there since 
I was a kid, with him and Aunt Anne. Oh, I 
wouldn’t think of going away without getting in 
a sight of them before I go. It was uncle that 
started me toward surgery. Father wanted aw- 
fully to have me in business with him, but he 
didn’t catch me young enough ! ” 

After Lambert had gone, Ross redoubled his ac- 
tivities, sitting on his suit cases and jouncing up 
and down until the hasps could be worked. Then 
jamming his hat on and clamping his umbrella 
under one arm he picked up his baggage and was 
starting for the door when one of the suit cases hit 
the waste-paper basket and caused it to disgorge 
its contents on the floor. He dropped his bag- 
gage and was gathering up the papers when 
he came across a discarded portion of his cal- 
47 


ROSS GRANT 

endar pad and the scrawled name of Razorback 
Jones/* 

“ Well, 1*11 be jiggered ! ** he cried aloud. From 
that day to this I*ve never thought of Razorback 
— and the letter he wanted written by some one 
who knew gold mining — well ** 

He did not finish his sentence, but the Book of 
Forgetfulness weighed heavily in his breast pocket. 
Still, omitting to call on Razorback had no re- 
sults, could have none, nor could he do anything 
to remedy No. 1. 

He caught up his suit cases again and hurried 
out to his eating house with twenty minutes to 
spare before train time. 

Two weeks later, having annexed to his limited 
baggage a little old hide-covered ** emergency 
chest ** which had made the trip to Wyoming be- 
fore, he reached Cody at the terminal of the Bur- 
lington branch line into Wyoming and boarded 
the stage for an all night ride across the bad 
lands ** to Meeteetse. The only other passenger in 
the stage was a man somewhat under thirty, mus- 
cular and sunburned, who climbed in beside Ross, 
bundled in a heavy overcoat. He was evidently a 
stranger to the driver and not communicative to 
his seat mate. As soon as the stage started he 
slumped down in his corner, drew a soft cap over 
his eyes and went to sleep. At the half-way stage 
48 


IN MINERS* CAMP 


camp where the driver fed his four horses, himself 
and his passengers at midnight, the stranger did 
not get out of the stage, but settled himself back 
more comfortably and slept on. 

When the stage reached Meeteetse, the little ranch 
center on the Gray Bull, the taciturn passenger 
woke up, lifted his chin from the collar of his top 
coat, pushed back his cap, and for the first time 
Ross saw his face distinctly. It was a lean face, 
smooth shaved, with quiet eyes, a firm mouth and 
a pleasant, rather grave expression. He nodded a 
** good-morning at his fellow passenger and busied 
himself with his luggage at the rear of the stage 
while Ross entered the Weller House. 

It was seven o'clock, and the hotel guests were 
just entering the dining-room in answer to the first 
call for breakfast. The proprietor of the house, 
who knew Ross, motioned him to his table, leav- 
ing the second passenger to find a seat at a table a 
few feet away. To the proprietor, presently, Ross 
broached the subject of the disturbance in Miners' 
Camp. His host gave a quick glance at the next 
table and answered evasively : 

Oh, a boundary dispute. I've not followed it 
very closely. Some tangled up, I'm thinking." 

Well," declared Ross, I'm interested in get- 
ting it untangled so I can write my father about 
it. He wants to get at the facts in the case." 

49 


ROSS GRANT 


His host looked up. So did the stranger at the 
next table. So did half a dozen others within ear- 
shot. 

** Your father repeated the proprietor in- 

quiringly. 

‘‘ He's backing Dad Page/' Ross began. 
And " 

A foot pressed against his gently, although the 
proprietor merely coughed and dropped his eyes. 
Ross halted, glanced about, saw the interest attach- 
ing to his words and heeded the pressure of the 
foot. His face flushed, and he welcomed an imme- 
diate change of subject. 

Let's see," began the proprietor precipitately, 
you know Bill Travers, don't ye ? He's on the 
Miners' Camp stage yet." 

'' When — when does it start? " stammered Ross. 

He was uneasily aware of the continued interest 
in the faces around him. To himself he wondered 
why such a statement should elicit that curious 
questioning stare. What if his father was backing 
Dad? Why did the proprietor stop him? He 
would ask as soon as they arose from the table. 
It was evidently not a subject to be pursued now 
even in an undertone. But he did not have an 
opportunity to ask. Before he had finished break- 
fast, the stage to Miners' Camp announced itself 
outside in the stentorian tones of its driver. Bill 
50 


IN MINERS* CAMP 


Travers, and the proprietor hurried out of the 
dining-room. 

When Ross went out to the waiting stage, he 
found his fellow passenger stowing away a shape- 
less bundle, tightly strapped, under the rear seat, 
and Bill Travers, from the driver’s seat, was ask- 
ing, “ Is it Miners’ Camp, stranger ? ” 

Then, not noticing Ross in the group that was 
assembling to see the stage off on its forty mile 
journey, the driver raised his voice facetiously : 

“ If any one wants t’ hike out fer Miners’ Camp 
’n’ all way stations, this is th’ last call they’ll hear 
before th’ train starts. Whoa there, kittens I Mind 
yer heels I ” 

Then his eyes fell on Ross Grant, his two suit 
cases and the — to Bill— familiar “ emergency chest.” 
He reached down a welcoming hand, shouting : 

Bless my boots I If here ain’t Doc Tenderfoot 
come agin t’ Wyomin’ ! ’Lo, Doc. Git up here 
’side o’ me. Got t’ cuttin’ folks up now ’r only 
puttin’ ’em together straight when they meet up 
with accidents ? Goin’ up t’ camp as assistant, eh ? 
Well, it might so be ye’re needed there. Git out 
o’ this, kittens I Air yer heels I ” 

The four aired their heels ” all day long, first 
through the fertile valleys of the Gray Bull and 
Wood River and then among the grim black foot- 
hills, rising higher and higher to meet the loom- 


ROSS GRANT 


ing peaks of the Shoshone Mountains, Bill Travers 
handled his four bronchos skilfully as they left 
summer behind in the valleys and climbed the 
difficult trail between peaks which arose higher 
and higher until the ponies slipped over the rot- 
ting ice that choked the trail for miles before 
Miners’ Camp appeared. 

Ross’s destination was the Gales Ridge “ diggins” 
where Dr. Scudder had been housed, and to which 
the post-office for the entire camp had recently 
been transferred. Both physician and office, as 
Bill informed Ross, were located in the same 
shack. From this information Bill parted will- 
ingly. was also loquacious on the subject of 
Lucky Frace and Nicholas Page, remembering 
Ross’s connection with them the summer before, 
but he had nothing to offer on either subject which 
was not already known to the boy. Lucky was in 
Frisco a-meetin’ with success, he said, in th’ matter 
o’ gettin’ together a passel o’ men willin’ t’ put up 
money fer th’ runnin’ of th’ Elk Hoof mine. 
Wouldn’t be back home yet a while. As fer that 
monkey o’ a Nick Page — he’d be hikin’ along in 
two ’r three weeks, so Dad said. 

All this information rolled fluently from Bill’s 
tongue, but on the subject about which Ross was 
most anxious the driver’s information ran unex- 
pectedly low. 


52 


IN MINERS* CAMP 


The new doctor, he opined vaguely, was a good 
enough sort of feller — hadn't had to be cut up t' 
any great extent himself. The off leader of his 
four '' kittens " had trod on his foot 'n' mashed a 
toe 'r two one day 'n' Dr. Scudder had fixed 'em 
up all right. Yes, he was liked in camp. Bill 
guessed, s' fur as he knew. 

Mindful of his experience in the Weller House, 
Ross approached the subject of the dispute in camp 
cautiously and without giving the information 
which had awakened interest there. To his sur- 
prise, the loquacious Bill was likewise cautious 
and informationless. Before speaking he glanced 
warily over his shoulder at the back seat. Ross 
noticed the glance, but did not connect it with the 
speaker's lack of information. The stranger had 
put on his overcoat again and was regarding every- 
thing about him with interest except the occu- 
pants of the front seat. 

Bill, leaning toward Ross, lowered his voice to a 
mere mutter and said, yes, he'd heerd talk of some 
fuss 'r other in camp. Some fool surveyor had 
made a hull batch of mistakes on Dundee — folks 
was all mixed up over the boundaries of their 
claims and pretty sore, but Seven and Eight was 
the climax of mix-ups, claimin' as they both did 
the intersection of two leads where they was likely 
a pocket o' passable ore, t' put it mild, 'n' both 


ROSS GRANT 


Dad and Kansas bound git t* that pocket first. 
No, he hadn^t an idee who was in the right of it, 
and he didn^t know anything much ^bout the 
camps takin’ sides in the matter. There was talk, 
of course, but what did talk amount t' anyway ? 
Thus Bill meandered verbally as his four “ kit- 
tens wearily approached Gales Ridge, the en- 
trance to Miners^ Camp. 

The wagon trail followed the windings of Wood 
River, here but a dashing creek that cut a deep 
channel between the mighty bulk of Dundee and 
Gales Ridge. 

Whew I exclaimed Ross, bending his head 
back until his neck ached in a vain attempt to see 
the towering peaks. These mountains seem just 
as ready to keel over and smash me as they did 
last year I 

“ Uh-huh,*^ assented Bill. IVe noticed they 
sorta keep tenderfeet still and starin^ fer a while 
at first.^^ Then he spoke over his shoulder : Say I 
ever glimpse these mountings afore ? " 

No,*^ from the back seat. 

Bill cleared his throat. He liked replies of one 
syllable only when he was not in quest of informa- 
tion. He pointed at the side of Gales Ridge with 
his whip. Ever see flowers bloomin^ at the edge 
of a snow bank, like that, afore now ? ” 

Being exposed to the hot noon sun the face of 
54 


MINERS^ CAMP 


IN MINERS' C^MP 



55 


ROSS GRANT 


Gales Ridge was bare in extensive patches, send- 
ing down into the deep recesses of the canon a 
breath of belated spring ; the quaking asp was 
bursting into leaf, while myriads of wild flowers 
bravely crowded the melting snow masses. There 
were the white and yellow soapweed, the blue- 
bell, the yellow aster and the pink and white 
forget-me-nots. 

The stranger smiled broadly at BilFs back as 
he answered, “ Lots of times — in Arizona and 
Mexico.'^ 

I guessed so I Bill muttered triumphantly, 
but what he guessed he did not say. 

At six o^clock the four ** kittens creaked across 
a bridge of bending saplings, and brought Ross 
within sight of the Gales Ridge “ diggins and 
Dr. Scudder^s shack. 

This cabin stood on a ledge cutting across the 
face of Gales Ridge not far above the wagon trail. 
Here and there in sheltered spots not far from it 
stood shacks, tiny affairs, homes of prospectors or 
of those men in the employ of the mining com- 
pany who preferred to bach ** it rather than to 
occupy the crowded bunk house and eating shack 
clinging to the mountainside high up near the 
mouth of the Gales Ridge tunnel. These familiar 
features, however, did not interest Ross. His eyes 
were fixed eagerly on the figure of a man waiting 
56 


IN MINERS* CAMP 


beside the trail, his hands thrust into the pockets 
of his trousers, a gray sweater buttoned to the 
chin of a smooth face, a cap pulled down over a 
high forehead until the brim shaded a pair of 
heavily lidded tired eyes. 

^Lo, doctor I Bill Travers sang out as the 
leader of the four poked an inquisitive nose toward 
the waiting man. “ Here's Doc Tenderfoot come 
t' town agin. Same boy, only bigger'n ever and 
likely not s^ tender I 

Ross removed himself from the high seat with 
difficulty, as the immense altitude of the place 
made him giddy at first, and shook hands diffi- 
dently with his superior. 

** And this is Doc Tenderfoot,” was all the 
greeting the older man gave him ; but as their 
hands met, Ross's heart warmed toward the other 
with his cordial, rather musical voice and his 
thin, delicate face. 

The hand that Rosses closed over was also thin 
and delicate, and in the midst of the new impres- 
sions crowding in on the younger man was the 
belief that the delicacy in the other's physique 
accounted for his burying himself in Miners’ 
Camp, two miles above sea level, eighty miles 
from a railroad, with a continent between himself 
and his old associations. With the feeling that 
this was the satisfactory answer to one of the ques- 
57 


ROSS GRANT 


tions which he had been asking himself ever since 
his first conversation with Dr. Gaynor on the sub- 
ject of Miners^ Camp, Ross helped Bill Travers 
unload his baggage while the passenger on the 
back seat viewed proceedings silently. His desti- 
nation was evidently the upper camp. 

After tumbling Ross’s light luggage out of the 
stage, Bill tossed down into the boy’s strong hands 
various boxes and bags containing supplies for the 
Gales Ridge boarding-house. The last thing which 
he picked up was an old ** telescope ” bag tied 
around with a small rope. Instead of handing 
this to Ross the driver stepped down over the 
wheel and tucked it in among the supplies without 
comment, at the same time glancing expectantly 
up the mountainside. Ross’s gaze followed his to 
a tiny cabin nestled in a group of pines at the end 
of the ledge. The door was open, but the interior 
was so dark that the boy could see merely the 
outlines of a figure in the doorway. 

Meanwhile Dr. Scudder had slung the lean mail- 
bags over his shoulder and started up the trail. 
As Ross followed slowly, loaded with his own 
traps, the doctor asked genially over his shoulder, 
“ Well, how does it seem to get back here ? 
Natural ? ” 

I hope it will,” responded Ross. But last 
year there was no such fuss going as I understand 

58 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 

is being stirred up now — over the Dundee claims, 
I mean.'' 

The other returned no answer. The figure had 
left the tiny cabin among the pines and was com- 
ing down the trail. The doctor nodded as they 
met with a muttered, Evening, Wort.*^ The 
man touched the cap drawn down over his eyes 
and hurried past. 

Ross looked up at the cabin again and found 
a second figure had taken Wort's " place in the 
doorway, a smaller figure, as he saw on a nearer 
view, a boy about his own age, but not of his own 
stature either mentally or physically. As the two 
drew near on the trail this boy dodged back into 
the dark, windowless interior of the cabin, al- 
though Ross felt that his vacant eyes were peer- 
ing through some crack between the unchinked 
logs. 

The ledge, or rock shelf, on which the doctor's 
home stood, had but one approach, and that was 
through the pines and past the door of this dark 
cabin. The shelf itself projected beyond the front 
of the long shack only ten feet. From the edge 
was a sheer drop of fifty feet or more to the side 
of the mountain. Although there were evidently 
several rooms in the log structure, there was but 
one outer door and that opened into the ofiice," 
a large room with a heater in the middle of the 
59 


ROSS GRANT 

room surrounded by benches and a floor of dirty 
pine, planks. 

The doctor retired at once to the post-office 
department, a stack of post boxes standing on a 
shelf in one corner in front of a high half sash 
window. Ross dropped his suit cases and um- 
brella and with a muttered explanation that he 
was going back after his chest, had reached the 
door when the doctor^s voice recalled him. The doc- 
tor was speaking in a serious but guarded manner : 

“ There's just one piece of advice I want to give 
you. Grant, first thing, and that is about this con- 
troversy in camp. If you know when you're well 
off you won't take sides. Better keep your ears 
open and your mouth shut in the matter. I do." 

‘‘ Thank you," returned Ross. I shall, too, 
but I'd like to hear about it from you." 

He sat down on the end of a bench and looked 
expectantly at the post-office. There ensued move- 
ments behind the screen of boxes, but no voice. 
Ross coughed suggestively. Still no words. 

The fuss is between Dad Page and some one 
called ‘Kansas' Brown, is it?" he finally asked, 
embarrassed by the silence. 

There was an appreciable pause and then a 
“ Yes," so short and so suggestive of a period to 
all information that Ross flushed and hurried out 
of the shack in pursuit of his emergency chest. 

6o 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


Running along the ledge he surprised the boy 
standing among the pines peering furtively down 
the mountainside. The latter dodged behind a 
tree, Ross being between him and the refuge of 
the cabin door, and again the newcomer caught a 
brief glimpse of a vacant face. Without speaking 
he ran down the trail and met the man whom the 
doctor had called Wort coming up. The man 
was climbing carefully, holding in his arms the 
old rope-bound telescope. Over it his eyes met 
Ross’s in a fleeting glance and then were lowered. 
As the boy passed him with a muttered greeting 
he heard the sharp click of glass knocking glass, 
but so chagrined was he at the doctor’s plain 
rebuff that he thought but little of the sound or 
man or the vacant-faced boy. 

There was no suggestion of a rebuff*, however, 
in his host’s manner when he again entered the 
office, his chest balanced on his shoulder. 

Ready for your room ? ” was the pleasant query. 

“ I am that I ” assented Ross as the doctor picked 
up his suit cases. I want to get into a flannel 
shirt and a sweater and put these glad rags away 
for good.” 

The other smiled genially : The room will go 
better with the sweater than the ‘ glad rags,’ but I 
presume you’ve stayed in rooms like it before — 
and slept in a bunk.” 

6i 


ROSS GRANT 


** Oh, a bunk is all right, assented Ross. I 
slept in ^em for a year — and I tell you I slept ^ too.^^ 

Dr. Scudder turned with a long look at his 
assistant. It was a look that puzzled Ross. There 
was in it more of longing than scrutiny. 

You slept well, then ? 

** Like a log.'' 

“ Lucky," the doctor commented briefly, lead- 
ing the way through the kitchen. Pushing open 
a rough door he set the baggage down in a little 
lean-to, exclaiming, Here you are I It's the best 
I can do for you. It was formerly the cook's 
room, but he's bunking behind the kitchen stove 
now." 

** It's all right," Ross declared, and at once set 
about settling while the' doctor departed. 

The floor of the lean-to was of uneven rock 
while its ceiling was dirt-chinked logs. It con- 
tained a bunk nailed to the side logs, a short bench 
and a half sash window that slid back to admit 
air, a needless precaution, as the air rushed in be- 
tween the logs and under them. In the middle 
of the room was a tiny sheet-iron heater with a 
stovepipe piercing the roof. At the head of his 
bunk was a shelf on which he arranged his books 
and the few toilet necessities he had brought. 
Under the shelf he stowed his emergency chest. 

The previous year that chest had accompanied 
62 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


him into the mountains well stocked with every 
“ first aid needful which Dr. Grant and Aunt 
Anne could crowd in it. But this year such a 
course seemed absurd in view of the fact it was to 
rest under the roof of a physician who must keep 
on hand a medical store sufficient to supply a 
camp. That is, it seemed absurd to Dr. Grant and 
his nephew. But Aunt Anne’s lips were pressed 
firmly together on the declaration that the chest 
must accompany Ross just the same. 

All right, Anne,” her husband had said in- 
dulgently, if it will help you to happier dreams 
— here goes I ” And he had shouldered the chest 
and marched into his office, followed by Ross. 

When the chest departed Aunt Anne supposed 
it contained all the needfuls it had held before, 
but uncle and nephew knew that it held but a 
meager store of appliances, the space being filled 
with the books over which Ross expected to pore 
during the vacation. 

He had just drawn on a sweater and hung a 
hand mirror on a nail over the shelf when Dr. 
Scudder’s voice sounded at his door : Wei], 

Grant, are you starved ? ” 

Ross opened the door. “ I’m always nearly 
starved in the mountains.” 

Dr. Scudder smiled. I think Hank here will 
be able to keep you filled.” 

63 


ROSS GRANT 


Ross stepped into the kitchen and faced Hank. 
To his surprise Dr. Scudder raised his right hand 
silently and with long, tapering white fingers 
made rapid signs and gestures to which Hank re- 
sponded merely with a nod. Giving the new- 
comer another nod he busied himself setting the 
food on the table. 

“ Hank is a deaf-mute,*' the doctor explained, 
turning to Ross. “ But he can cook and keep the 
place reasonably clean — and I'm not long on con- 
versation myself." 

Something significant not only in the tone of 
the last remark and in the rather long pause pre- 
ceding it but in the speaker's very atmosphere 
arrested Ross's attention. It seemed to him he 
had bumped up against a sign-post. The impact 
of the mental blow embarrassed him as it had in 
the office, and, at the best, Ross had not a surplus 
of self-assurance. He sat down with his back to 
the stove, facing a window that looked over on 
Dundee. He answered the doctor's perfunctory 
questions concerning his trip, lapsing into silence 
at the end of each answer, and presently his host 
fell silent also, without having once referred to the 
University nor Philadelphia nor Dr. Gaynor. 

Ross, puzzled, stole an occasional glance at him 
until he saw that he might look as long and 
openly as he chose, his host having seemingly for- 
64 


IN MINERS* CAMP 


gotten his existence. He was eating rapidly with 
an air of not knowing what he was putting into 
his mouth. His movements had become singu- 
larly nervous, an attitude Ross had not noticed 
during the few moments he had seen him before 
supper. His long fingers would close about his 
cup tensely one moment and allow his fork to slip 
through them the next. His eyes, which seemed 
too large for his face, he did not raise from his 
plate. 

After a light supper, he left the table abruptly 
and with a muttered reference to Bill Travers and 
the mail for the morning, went into the office. 
Pausing a moment only behind the post-office 
boxes, he opened a door leading into a room of 
which Ross caught only a glimpse. The next 
moment the boy heard the click of a lock the 
other side of the closed door. 

A week before back in Pennsylvania, the sound 
would not have arrested his attention even, but 
here it did. He had not known, as he told Lambert, 
that Miners' Camp contained a lock. Open doors 
were the order among the mountains. He was not 
able, however, to comment on this nor anything 
else to Hank eating noisily at the end of the table. 
So he finished his supper speechlessly and wander- 
ing into the office looked the room over carefully. 
Opposite the outer door was the door that was 

65 


ROSS GRANT 


locked. Between it and the kitchen door, nailed 
against the logs, was a cupboard with a glass door. 
The three upper shelves in this cupboard held 
bottles of all sizes filled with liquids, and tablets 
of various colors. Over the lower shelf were 
strewn surgical instruments in a disorderly array. 
Under the cupboard stood a large trunk. 

With his hands stuffed into his pockets and 
whistling in a low key, he was surveying the 
surgical outfit in a cursory fashion, when the 
outer door opened and two men entered. The 
first was evidently a Mexican. He was short and 
swarthy. His left arm was in a sling. He sat 
down on the bench near the stove without look- 
ing at Ross, and dropped his head on his right 
hand, his elbow on his knee. His companion 
Ross thought at first glance was the stranger in 
the stage. But a second glance showed him a 
younger man, although he was tall and lean 
with the same quick, pleasant eye and thin, 
sunburned face. This man, however, had a 
beard. 

“ Good-evening,^^ said Ross. 

EveninV' returned the American civilly with 
a glance about the room. Doctor in ? 

Ross nodded toward the locked door. Shall I 
call him ? ” 

“ Might as well,” glancing toward the dejected 
66 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 

Mexican. “ Rod^s got a bad arm. Doctor told us 
t^ come at this time.^^ 

Ross went to the locked door and rapped. 
There was no response. He rapped again with the 
same result. I didn^t see him come out/^ he said 
finally, but he did, probably, and I didnT notice.'^ 

As he spoke he stooped and looked at the lock. 
The door was hung loosely and he could see that 
the bolt was still shot. Either his host was in 
that room or he had gone out another way. 

Guess you'll have to wait a while," he said, 
and returned to his survey of the instruments, but 
not before he had noticed a belt and six shooter 
bulging the American's sweater at the hip. 

On top of the cupboard a nickel clock ticked 
loudly. The fire snapped cheerfully in the heater. 
The man on the bench breathed heavily as though 
in pain. Outside, the wind began its evening 
soughing through the trees. From the room be- 
hind the locked door there came no sound what- 
ever. Ross moved away from the cupboard un- 
easily and stood in front of a window whose dirty 
panes commanded a view of Dundee rising pre- 
cipitately the other side of the canon. Suddenly, 
from its face high above the shack, came a deep 
mufiled roar which reverberated among the peaks. 

" Somebody's put a shot," he observed. 

Who?'’ 


67 


ROSS GRANT 


The American had sat down on the bench be- 
side the Mexican. He did not look up, but his 
forehead contracted involuntarily as he answered : 
** Dad Page, I guess.^^ 

“In Number Seven ?"' asked Ross for the sake 
of making conversation. 

The other gave him a quick glance then from 
under black brows. “ Yes, in Seven.” 

At that instant the bolt in the adjoining room 
clicked, and Dr. Scudder entered the room smil- 
ing pleasantly, his movements totally unlike the 
movements of the man who had shot the bolt half 
an hour before. There was not a trace of nervous- 
ness in his manner, which was buoyant. Rosses 
astonishment at the transformation, however, was 
swallowed up in interest at his greeting : 

“ Hello, Kansas, how^s Rod^s arm ? ” 

Ross, with difficulty, suppressed a whistle. 
This, then, was “ Kansas ” Brown, owner of 
Dundee Eight, the claim which encroached on 
Dundee Seven, owned by the elder Grant and 
Dad Page I 


68 


CHAPTER III 


THE HOSTILE CAMPS 

Kansas answered the doctor's question with a 
shake of his head and the laconic answer : “Hurts 
'im yet." 

The Mexican winced at the doctor's touch, his 
face distorted with pain. 

“Uh-huh," muttered Dr. Scudder slowly. “ Of 
course it hurts. Those powder burns always are 
painful." Then he turned to Ross. “ Kansas, 
this is my assistant. He just came this evening. 
He's Ross Grant in the East, but all the name I've 
heard from those who knew him here last year is 
* Doc Tenderfoot.' " 

Another glance from under the black brows and 
a muttered, “ Yeh, I've heard of Doc," was all the 
greeting Ross received from the owner of Dundee 
Eight. 

His manner was non-committal but not un- 
friendly. When Ross was looking elsewhere 
Kansas Brown studied him. The boy felt the 
scrutiny and returned it as Kansas bent over his 
69 


ROSS GRANT 


Mexican employee, assisting the doctor to undo 
the bandages on the burned arm. It was to his 
employer rather than to the doctor that the suf- 
ferer yielded. Kansas was singularly persuasive 
both in his manner and in the voice that jabbered 
to the Mexican in his own language. 

The chap in the stage is certainly his near 
relative,*^ Ross decided. 

This thought brought others in its train not 
agreeable, in the light of Dr. Scudder^s advice. He 
had not connected the stranger with Dundee Eight, 
but the proprietor of the Weller House evidently 
had when he touched Rosses foot with his own. 
The boy^s speech had not been checked, however, 
before the occupants of the dining-room had heard 
the one important statement that the elder Grant 
had a financial interest in one of the disputed 
claims. 

''Well, what of it?” Ross asked himself. "I 
wonder it wasnT known before — there^s no reason 
for keeping it secret — a mere business transaction 1 
Still — Dad always was close mouthed.” 

Then he turned his attention to the business in 
hand. 

Sitting astride the bench occupied by his patient. 
Dr. Scudder proceeded to attend to the burned 
arm. Ross, watching every move closely, admired 
the long white, skilful fingers touching the shrink- 
70 


IN MINERS' CAMP 


ing arm gently but firmly. Presently the physician 
hesitated and looked up. It^s close here, Grant,*' 
he said abruptly. Open the door, will you ? " 
Ross did as he was bid, despite the Mexican's 
evident chill as the cold air filled the room. He 
wondered a little at a direction which gave the 
patient so much discomfort, but his attention was 
immediately distracted by a further request. The 
doctor sat looking down at a package of sterilized 
cotton in his hand, his forehead puckered into a 
frown. He glanced over his shoulder once at the 
medicine cupboard, and the frown deepened. Ross 
wondered at his delay with the burn exposed to 
the air and the patient in such evident distress. 

Grant," said his chief suddenly, happen to 
have anything — well, you spoke of your emergency 
chest — did you put any bichloride of mercury or 
Dobell's " 

Yes," interrupted Ross. “ I have a bottle of 
Dobell's tablets — the only disinfectant I brought 
along." 

The last words were spoken over the chest 
itself as the boy hurried into his room and laid his 
hand immediately on the bottle. There was no 
time to wonder at the doctor's request for, pres- 
ently, the solution made, to his delight he found 
himself manipulating the arm with the older man 
standing by, directing, correcting, commending. 

71 


ROSS GRANT 


They told me here in camp, Grant, the doctor 
exclaimed when the arm was at length replaced in 
its sling, that Doc Tenderfoot knew more than 
some doctors with sheepskins I 

Ross flushed diffidently and made no reply. 
He was looking at Kansas Brown getting the 
Mexican into his sweater. There was a deftness 
and kindness in the Americanos movements that 
attracted the boy. 

** Ever done such a job alone before ? pursued 
Dr. Scudder, standing in the doorway, his hands 
in his pockets. 

“ Yes, often, 00 answered Ross. You see, I have 
lived with my uncle. Dr. Grant, ever since I was a 
kid and fOve always taken to everything surgical. 
He lives in the mountains above Wilkes Barre in 
the coal mining district, and such cases are every- 
day occurrences. fOve helped him a lot, and then, 
sometimes, when a miner would be brought to the 
office injured, and uncle not there, fOve flxed him 
up. Of course, afterward, uncle saw to it that the 
job was rightly done, and there I learned a lot, 
for he always had me around when he was look- 
ing my work over. In that way IVe had some 
real practice.’^ 

** Evidently,^' said the doctor, you take to 
surgery as a duck does to water — eh ? 

** I like it ! and I suppose where you like to do 
72 


IN MINERS' CAMP 


something it comes — well — handier to do it than 
if you didn^t care.'^ 

“ Always wanted to be a doctor, have you ? ” was 
the next question. 

Why,’^ cried Ross enthusiastically, I^d rather 
do such a job as that than — than — eat I And 
that," with a laugh, is saying a good deal, as 
you^ll find I " 

During this conversation Kansas Brown had 
been putting the Mexican into his sweater care- 
fully, heeding every move that gave Rodrigo pain. 
Over the Mexican's head his eyes were taking full 
measure of the newcomer, a boy in years, a man 
in stature, the combination making him rather 
shy and easily embarrassed except in the pursuit 
of his chosen profession. There he dropped his 
boyhood and stepped unconsciously into confident 
and enthusiastic manhood. The sharp scrutiny in 
Kansas Brownes eyes changed into amusement at 
Ross’s last remark and he laughed outright, and 
for a pleasant moment the eyes of man and boy 
met in an understanding way. Then Kansas 
handed Rodrigo his cap and the two left the 
shack. 

Dr. Scudder followed them, glancing over his 
shoulder. Put those things away, will you. 
Grant ? " he asked, motioning to the medical 
paraphernalia laid out on the bench. 

73 


ROSS GRANT 


Ross did as he was bid, dividing his attention 
between his task and the two on the ledge. As he 
was closing the cupboard door he bethought him 
of the Dobell’s tablets. He had not come across 
the bottle containing them. He looked about 
anxiously and had dropped on his knees to hunt 
beneath the heater when he recalled seeing the 
doctor drop the bottle into his coat pocket after 
taking out the tablets necessary for the solution. 
Picking up a pair of shears that had dropped to 
the floor he stepped to the door intending to ask 
his chief for the bottle, but the latter was so deeply 
engrossed in conversation with Kansas that Ross 
did not interrupt him, but stood waiting to speak. 

Into the physician’s manner had crept the 
strange suppressed nervousness that seemed to 
Ross to undermine his natural force and poise. 
His hands were aimless in their movements, going 
alternately from his trousers pockets to the pockets 
of his sweater. His very walk was infected with 
a nervous lack of purpose as he followed Kansas 
along the ledge. He lowered his voice to an un- 
dertone, but it reached the boy’s sharp ears in 
urgent fragments : 

Kansas,” he asked, is this interfering with 
work in Eight ? ” He nodded toward the Mex- 
ican’s arm, but Ross could not hear the other’s 
reply. 


74 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


** We must reach the intersection first/^ then 
came the doctor^s voice insistently, “ for IVe got 
to have money, Kansas, I must have money — I 
was a fool to sink money — to go into the thing 
when it's uncertain — and more uncertain now 
than ever — with this fuss — and Dad may come in 
ahead — the intersection must make good — I'd sell 
out if I could find a buyer — and now Rod's 
arm '' 

Into this anxious agitated incoherent torrent 
of words came Kansas' cool level tones. With 
my brother Jean come to-day and on the job now, 
doctor, we won't miss Rod's arm. We're goin' to 
reach the intersection first — that'll be a cinch — 
but you're in the thing, and I don't see no way 

out if ye can't find a buyer " 

I've written to my brother — I must have more 

money " the doctor was beginning, his voice 

rising in his anxiety. 

Kansas, with a backward glance at the shack, 
touched his arm, and the two moved further away 
from the office door. 

Inside the office Ross dropped the shears with a 
clatter. When Kansas spoke of his brother, the 
identity of the stranger in the stage was made 
clear. But when Dr. Scudder mentioned his 
brother, there fell into Ross's consciousness the 
memory of a gray-haired man in front of the col- 
75 


ROSS GRANT 


lege library and of a chance bit of information he 
had given which explained the otherwise incoher- 
ent remarks of the physician. Ross picked up the 
shears and stared frankly out of the open door at 
the group on the ledge. Kansas saw him, and 
with a low word to the doctor silenced him and, 
without further speech, swung off down the trail, 
followed by Rodrigo. 

Bring him up again to-morrow night about 
this time,^^ the doctor called after them. 

He came back into the oflSce, his lips moving as 
though he were saying to himself the words 
Kansas had interrupted. He did not seem to see 
Ross, although he was obliged to walk around him 
in order to reach his room toward which he plunged 
at once. Again the lock clicked, and after a mo- 
ment there was silence in the room. 

“ Well,^^ muttered the boy, looking at the door 
with puzzled eyes, this beats me — this and a few 
other things ! 

The bottle of DobelTs was forgotten. He filled 
the heater with wood and sitting down beside it 
grasped a knee with both hands, brought it up 
near his protruding chin and sat thinking, his 
eyes narrowed and thoughtful. In the kitchen 
Hank moved about washing dishes. A frost-bit- 
ten breeze came in at the open door^ counteracted 
by waves of heat from the reddened pine-filled 

76 


IN MINERS' CAMP 


stove. Ross sat quietly going over the situation 
with painstaking care until, as suddenly as it had 
closed, the doctor's door opened and he appeared, 
calm, pleasant, clad again in the commanding per- 
sonality that dominated Ross — and perplexed him. 

“No such first of July as they're having in 
Pennsylvania — eh ? " he remarked carelessly with 
a glance at a curl of snow overhanging a ledge 
high on Dundee. Then he turned to the medicine 
cupboard. 

Ross glanced out of the door at the snow-curl 
flanked by the green of the stunted spruce and the 
blackness of the rock. Then he dropped his foot 
to the floor with a bang and began resolutely : 

“ See here. Dr. Scudder, I'm in a queer position 
here. How queer it is has only just occurred to 
me, and I guess I better tell you right off the bat ! 
Maybe you don't know " he paused uncer- 

tainly. 

The doctor opened the lid of the trunk and 
tossed in a roll of bandages. He looked over his 
shoulder in surprise : “ Queer ? How ? What do 
you mean ? " 

Ross gave an embarrassed laugh. “ Of course, 
it doesn't make any difference — not a bit, really, 
only I always feel better when I get things off my 
chest and begin square — if I've got to live around 
with — folks." 


77 


ROSS GRANT 


Dr. Scudder stood motionless, listening intently 
to this awkward speech, his back still turned to 
the speaker. There was a tenseness in his attitude 
that was lost on Ross. 

“Well — square about what?'^ he asked finally, 
and his voice was also tense. 

“ About my being here and he paused and 

changed into, “ You see I met your brother one 
day before I knew I was coming here.” 

The doctor moved suddenly, but said nothing. 

“ It was back in April,” Ross went on. “ He 
was visiting the University. He was with a lot of 
fellows in front of the library and they introduced 
me because I had been up here last year and I 
could tell him about the camp. You were here, 
and he was interested.” 

Dr. Scudder still did not look around. There 
was a pause during which Ross considered and the 
doctor listened. At last the latter said, “ Well ? 
you said you were in a queer position ” 

“ Yes, I am. It's like this, doctor. Your brother 
mentioned that you were interested in a mining 
claim owned by Kansas Brown ” 

“Oh — did he?” the doctor interrupted. There 
was a curious note of relief in his tone. It was 
evidently not what he was afraid of hearing. He 
went to the door and looked out. “ Yes,” he said 
nodding, “ I am, but. Grant, I’m a silent partner — 
78 


IN MINERS* CAMP 


remember that. No one here, except Kansas, 
knows that I’m interested — and now you — but I 
know I can rely on you. I — we — must not take 
sides in this matter, as I’ve told you. It’s far too 
serious. Feeling is running high here these days. 
It would take only a little thing to act like a lighted 
match in a keg of powder. You see, we are 
public characters, you and I, in a way. We are 
employed equally by both camps.” 

Ross bent over his knees and studied the planks 
underfoot. “ I won’t mention it, of course,” he 
promised, ** but the queer thing about the matter 
is — maybe you don’t know it, but I’m afraid it’s 
no secret in camp — my father is backing Dad 
Page ! ” 

Your father I ” exclaimed the doctor. Are 
you the son of the Grant who owns mining prop- 
erty all around here ? Queer I never associated 
the names. Why, Dr. Gaynor wrote me that you 

needed ” he paused abruptly. 

Ross continued the unfinished sentence. “ Wrote 
you, probably, that I needed a job of some sort this 
summer. Well, I do. My father is financing a 
lot of enterprises, but I’m not one of them I ” 

The doctor turned with a quick appreciative 
smile, and looked his young assistant over. Your 
father evidently knows when it’s best to finance 
enterprises and when it’s best to let enterprises 
79 


ROSS GRANT 


finance themselves,” he exclaimed with warm em- 
phasis. Then he returned to the main subject : 

But you say the camps know that your father is 
back of Dad Page ? Perhaps they do, but it^s news 
to me.” 

Ross explained the occurrence in the Weller 
House. Anyway,” he ended, except for the 
way things are here there^d be no sense in making 
a secret of a business matter like that. And after 
what I said in the hotel it can^t be a secret now.” 

Dr. Scudder slipped his hands into his pockets. 
He leaned against the door-jamb in an easy atti- 
tude, an upstanding, handsome, dominating figure 
now, a nerve-shaken, unseeing, unhearing figure 
half an hour before. In a kind and reasoning tone 
he reassured Ross : 

“ While it would be better not to have it known, 
I think you will be able to disarm prejudice, if 
there is any, by strict attention to your own business 
— our business. When I said at first. Grant, that 
we are public figures in camp, I meant this : I am 
not paid by the job, individually, as we are usually ; 
each man pays by the month, the men in both 
mining companies and the prospectors all through 
these mountains. Each man, according to agree- 
ment, hands over a dollar a month, and it’s up to 
me for that to give him all the medical attention 
he needs. Now, take Rodrigo, for instance. If he 
8o 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


needs care for a month I give it — but he pays only 
his dollar. On the other hand, nine-tenths of the 
men never require any attention, so the thing evens 
up that way.^^ 

“ I see,^^ assented Ross. I see, too, where you 
— and I now — come in as sort of public property.*^ 
Yes, that's the idea." The doctor hesitated a 
moment and then continued : ** For a few days 
now, until the two superintendents get back, things 
may be — well, rather precarious." 

“The superintendents?" Ross's voice arose in- 
quiringly. 

The doctor nodded. “ Yes, of both upper and 
lower camps. They're in Chicago attending a con- 
vention, and the foremen are running the mines 
while they're gone. The superintendents are strong 
men. They hold the miners in check, but now — 
well, it's the part of wisdom now especially to avoid 
taking sides." 

“ But the men will naturally think I'm on Dad's 
side because I'm my father's son," said Ross rue- 
fullyy “ when, as a matter of fact, that would have 
no influence on me when it comes to my work as 
your assistant." 

The doctor nodded understandingly. “ That's 
the right way of looking at it. Grant, and I think, 
as I have said, that the men will soon understand 
that you mean to mind your own business." Then 

8i 


ROSS GRANT 


he added, ** Just one thing further : Because of the 
situation here, and my position, and because this 
is the post-office, this ledge is strictly neutral 
ground, and both camps recognize it as such — 
with a few reminders occasionally from me 1 Here 
both parties meet without quarreling. They avoid 
quarreling, I notice,^^ with a smile, by not speak- 
ing, but that’s better than speaking too much I ” 

Dr. Scudder’s manner changed suddenly. He 
stood erect and shook himself a trifle impatiently. 
His thoughts seemed to relinquish their hold on 
the subject of the camp complications and turn 
inward again, arrested by his own last words. 
“ Yes,” he repeated slowly, it's better not to talk 

too much. Questions — incessant talk ” he 

shrugged his shoulders and went abruptly behind 
the stack of post boxes. 

There was in this last remark the same signifi- 
cance that had abashed Ross at the table and pre- 
vented him from asking any questions on the 
origin of the fuss between claims Seven and Eight. 

Suddenly Dr. Scudder called out with quick in- 
sistence : See here. Grant, you may as well take 
a lesson in post-office work right away. When 
I'm not here you'll be postmaster as well as chief 
surgeon. Come back here and make out a post- 
office order, please. I must see to having you 
sworn in. We're not troubled much by inspectors, 
82 


IN MINERS' CAMP 


and things aren^t run as strictly as they are in 
more accessible places, but the work is done well 
enough to suit the camp.’* 

Ross, shivering from the inrush of the frosty 
air from the doorway, followed behind the stack 
of post-office boxes and gave heed to the rapid di- 
rections issued by his host. “ Here’s a book of in- 
structions,” Dr. Scudder finished abruptly. Study 
things out for yourself. It’s time for the boys to 
drop in now. If there are any money orders 
asked for, make ’em out and leave them in the en- 
velopes for me to sign. I’ll attend to them in the 
morning.” 

With this curt order. Dr. Scudder, with the air 
of winding up his duties for the day, started 
toward his room. 

But — doctor — see here — hold on I ” Ross 
blurted out. 

What is it ? ” The older man turned in his 
doorway and looked at the boy impatiently. 

** Why ” Ross ruffled up his hair helplessly. 

He glanced at the inviting benches around the 
heater and at the post-office boxes and the medi- 
cine cupboard. Then he finished awkwardly, 
Aren’t you going to stick around here — to-night 
at least — till I get the hang of. things ? ” 

“ The hang of things,” the doctor repeated. 
“ You have all the directions necessary. The men 

83 


ROSS GRANT 

of the upper camp don^t gather in here. They 
lounge around MacFadden's store at the upper 
camp. There^s never any trouble unless some 
one’s drunk. Then all you have to do is to 
throw him out, provided he doesn’t go at your 
request. I ” — here Dr. Scudder’s tone grew in- 
distinct as he backed into his room and closed 
the door — ‘‘ I — can’t be disturbed to-night — no 
sleep — must 

The lock clicked, and Ross was left alone in 
the office gazing at the locked door in speechless 
astonishment. 

Say I ” he exploded mentally. What is he, 
anyway ? Smooth as silk one hour and rough as 
tweed the next ! Calm as a summer sea and then 
as nervous as a witch ! And not one word about 
Philadelphia nor the University nor Gaynor nor 
anything. Well, if he doesn’t want me to talk I 
can keep still, that’s one thing certain — but he’s a 
conundrum I ” 

The boy scratched his head above a puzzled face, 
closed the outer door and sat down beside the 
window with his book of instructions ; but he did 
no reading. He was more uneasy at the moment 
over the other’s strange manner than over the 
prospect of being obliged to keep order in the of- 
fice. It must be that his conclusion when he 
first saw the doctor was correct ; he must be suffer- 
84 


IN MINERS' CAMP 


ing from sickness of some sort that affected his 
nerves. And yet the more Ross saw him the less 
he was impressed by the idea of physical illness 
in connection with his chief. His speculations 
were soon interrupted by the entrance of two men, 
one of whom, Wort, he had met twice on the trail 
up the side of Gales Ridge in quest of a heavy 
telescope bag. Had Ross been in any doubt before 
as to the nature of the contents of that bag the 
breath of the owner would have settled the doubt. 
Wort sat down beside the stove while his compan- 
ion approached the post-office corner and nodded 
through the opening at Ross. 

‘‘ Evenin\ Rm lookin’ fer a paper. Name, 
Harve Sickler.” 

“ Good-evening,” Ross responded. 

After some effort he located the paper, and 
Harve returned to the stove in time to secure a 
corner seat before it was taken by others of the 
denizens of the camp who were lounging in, many 
of them greeting Ross cordially as Doc Tender- 
foot.” They were the men he had run across the 
year before while working in the mountains near 
Miners’ Camp. 

At first the embryo postmaster was so busy 
hunting out letters and papers from the unnamed 
and unnumbered boxes that he had no time for 
general observation. But presently he began to 

85 


ROSS GRANT 


notice that when a newcomer entered the room if 
he were greeted by the group about the stove he 
joined them ; if not, he called for his mail and 
left without so much as a glance in their direc- 
tion. Ross recalled the doctor's meager informa- 
tion and concluded that these were the men of the 
upper camp who foregathered, not at the post-ofl5ce 
but at MacFadden’s, whoever he was. 

Now I wonder," Ross thought, surveying the 
occupants of the benches through the glass of the 
boxes, which man these are with. Dad or Kansas." 
This the doctor had not explained. 

With a view of finding out, he pretended to 
busy himself behind the boxes all the evening, 
listening for remarks that would throw some light 
on the question, but he heard nothing. 

The group had drawn the benches close to the 
heater, which they kept well filled, and sat smok- 
ing, swapping an occasional yarn, or breaking out 
with some bit of news brought by Bill Travers. 
They were dressed as they had been all day in the 
mines, in sweaters and high rubber boots. Some 
were accoutered, like Kansas Brown, with six 
shooters at the hip, but they looked far from 
formidable as they hunched lazily forward, baking 
one side and then the other in the heat from the 
red-hot stove, and filling the room with tobacco 
smoike until the lamp, high against the side logs, 
86 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


shone through a haze dimly. With the smoke 
was mingled the sickening smell of scorching 
rubber and the steam of hot earth. 

Presently Ross saw that a ripple of secret com- 
munication was flowing under the general wave 
of conversation. He strained his ears until he 
caught his own title of ** Doc Tenderfoot/^ but the 
connection he could not get at first. He sat down 
on the bench in his corner, and pretended to write, 
leaning forward so that his ear came close to the post 
boxes. It was evident that he was the subject of 
comment, but not until the comment had worked 
around to Wort did he And out what it was. Wort 
was sagging forward, stupid and sleepy, and did 
not catch the full meaning of the whisper that 
was being passed over his bent back. He straight- 
ened himself and stared at the whisperer. 

Hey ? ” he muttered. WhaPs that ye say ? 
D^ye say his father is 

Harve's foot on one side and a sharp elbow on 
the other ended Worths question, but Ross under- 
stood its purport. Either Bill Travers or Jean 
Brown had told what he, Ross, had said to the 
proprietor of the Weller House. He was annoyed 
that it should be considered important enough to 
be repeated in this covert manner. His first im- 
pulse was to leave his corner and announce frankly 
to the group that it made no difference to him 
87 


ROSS GRANT 


which claim his father was financing — he was in 
camp merely as Dr. Scadder’s assistant and not to 
take any part in factional differences. He arose 
to carry out his impulse and then as impulsively 
sat down again. It was the part of wisdom to 
keep in the background quietly until he found out 
something more of “ how the land lay in camp. 
And, furthermore, as the doctor had said, the 
camps would soon learn by his actions that he 
was strictly neutral. 

By nine o’clock the last loafer had drifted out 
of the shack, leaving Ross questioning whether it 
were official closing time or whether there was 
such a time. He rapped once on the locked door, 
but received no reply, and heard no stir inside. 
Therefore, he blew out the lamp, closed the door, 
and taking the office money with him, threw it 
into a sock and went to bed. Before going to 
sleep he promised himself that he would visit 
Dundee Seven the next morning and ask Dad 
Page for an account of the fuss in camp, its origin 
and progress. He was disappointed that Dad, 
whom he had known well the year before, had 
not come to the office that night. 

The following morning the strong light from 
the half-sash striking him full in the face aroused 
him. The light preceded the sun by two hours, 
owing to the obstructing peaks. Hank was already 
88 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


rattling skillets and pans, and the aroma of coffee 
floated in at the open door. Ross yawned and 
disentangled himself from the heavy blankets in 
which he had slept. As he hung his feet over 
the side of the bunk he grinned reminiscently at 
the rolled blanket that made a harsh pillow and 
thought of his Aunt Anne’s well laundered bed- 
ding. 

Say I ’’ he muttered with another jaw-stretch- 
ing yawn. Aunt Anne doesn’t realize this sort 
of thing even after all I’ve told her.” 

A chunk of dry mud from the chinks overhead 
fell on the rock floor as he crawled stiffly out of 
the bunk and shivered in the cold wind blowing 
in at the half-sash. 

*^The second of July — whew ! ” he exclaimed to 
Hank as he dipped a basin of water out of a 
brimming pail in the kitchen and proceeded to 
wash. 

Hank returned his friendly grin and said some- 
thing with his free hand while the other turned 
bacon in the skillet, but Ross did not understand. 
Going into the office he found the doctor’s door 
was still closed, and a moment later Hank sum- 
moned him to breakfast by banging on a tin pan. 
Ross stood in the doorway and, catching the deaf- 
mute’s eye, pointed to the doctor’s room. Hank 
shook his head violently, motioning Ross to his 
89 


ROSS GRANT 


bench beside the table. The two ate a silent 
breakfast with the third place unoccupied. 

Before breakfast was finished Bill Travers* voice 
sounded from the office door. Bill's ** kittens " 
stood on the trail in the canon while he came up 
after the mail-bag. To Ross's surprise he went at 
once behind the post boxes and picked up the 
empty mail-bag. 

'' Guess doctor ain't up yet," he mentioned care- 
lessly to Ross who had hurried into the office. 

No, shall I call him? " 

Bill was fixing the date in the stamp with the 
deftness of one accustomed to it. No, never 
mind. Used t' this. It ain't accordin' t' yer 
Uncle Sam's way of doin', but the thing is t' git it 
done before noon 'n' git started fer Meeteetse." 

Bill whacked the stamp on the few letters that 
had been left the evening before, tied them and 
dropped them into the mail-bag. Then he turned 
to Ross, lowered his voice with a cautious glance 
at the locked door and returned to the subject on 
which he had exhibited so much ignorance the 
previous day. 

Say, Doc, I couldn't tell ye about Seven 'n' 
Eight last night, with Kansas Brown’s brother 
right back of us. Probably ye know the hull 
mess now." 

This, Ross considered, was an excellent oppor- 
90 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


tunity for an exhibition of his policy of neutrality. 
“ No/' he returned, yawning indifferently, but 
truthfully, I don't know anything about it." 

Bill leaned against the shelf behind the post 
boxes and glanced again at the locked door. His 
manner became more confidential. 

“ Ye see," he began, “ Seven and Eight overlap 
right at the intersection of the leads. That was 
the fool work of a surveyor s' sick he didn't know 
what he was about. He had weak lungs. He 
made a hull botch of mistakes and then cleared 
out. He's likely passed in his checks sence. 
Leastways, no one has heard from Razorback 
Jones since."^ 


91 


CHAPTER IV 


** THE BOOK OF FORGETFULNESS 

At the name, Ross could not repress a startled 
exclamation. “ Razorback I ” he cried. “ Did you 
say Razorback Jones 

Bilks eyes lit up at the boy's tones. Huh I 
So ye know somethin' about Razorback yerself, 
d' ye?" 

“ Why — I’ve heard of him," Ross returned 
guardedly, remembering that news was meat and 
drink to Bill both in the gathering and the dis- 
pensing. 

“ What have ye heard?" the driver urged, al- 
most in a whisper. 

“ I’ve heard his name," evaded Ross. 

Seen Dad Page, have ye ? ” 

No." 

Doctor told ye, mebbe.” 

No," shortly, '' Dr. Scudder has not mentioned 
the name to me." 

Sh I " cautioned Bill, his eyes on the bedroom 
door. Not s' loud. He don't take no sides in 
this matter, as you'll find, and he won't let it be 
talked here in the office." 


92 


IN MINERS' CAMP 


How can he prevent it ? asked Ross to divert 
Bill’s interest in his own knowledge of Razorback. 
Dad Page was the only one entitled to this knowl- 
edge. 

Bill scratched his ear, while a puzzled expression 
overcast his face. Wall, you tell if ye can ! We 
know he don’t want it talked around this office, 
and we don’t talk it, that’s all — unless it’s when 
he’s in there — with the door locked I Then we 
know he’s ” 

It was Bill’s turn to stop now. He glanced 
speculatively at the assistant and waited as though 
for a lead in the matter of further information 
concerning the doctor. But Ross’s attention was 
diverted, and he made no reply. Afterward he 
recalled Bill’s tribute to Dr. Scudder’s native 
force and commanding personality, but now his 
thoughts were playing around the University 
Hospital and the Westerner he had forgotten to 
visit, and the letter that through his forgetfulness 
he had never written. He wondered about that 
letter. He could recall accurately every detail he 
had learned in April connected with Razorback, 
and mentally he was kicking himself for his care- 
lessness in the matter of calling on him. Espe- 
cially did he regret the letter the sick man had 
wished written by some one who understood gold 
mining, and Ross recollected that this wish fol- 
93 


ROSS GRANT 


lowed the reading of some item concerning Miners^ 
Camp, possibly the same that he had sent to his 
father. 

There I he told himself in exasperation. 

If I had remembered to visit him a second time 
I might have got at the bottom of all this muddle 
before I came here.^^ 

Then he found Bill Travers speaking of the re- 
lations between the upper and lower camps, and 
again listened. 

As ye know, Doc, the miners these two com- 
panies have here is the owners of claims all over 
these mountings, so they hang Tound here and 
earn their three plunks a day and see t’ it that 
their claims don’t git jumped. Wall, as it hap- 
pened, when this here ruction begun, most of the 
men that sided with Dad Page was in this camp, 
while Kansas Brown’s men was in the upper one. 
And it didn’t take the others long t’ swap places, 
I tell ye I That’s how it’s come that now the hull 
upper camp’s with Kansas agin th’ lower camp, 
with Dad, and pretty hot both camps is jest now 
— and the Fourth of July cornin’ on, and it a holi- 
day fer all hands I ” 

At this moment a sound of jangling trace chains 
from the canon caused Bill to grab the mail-bag 
and depart on the run to rescue the ear of his nigh'’ 
leader from its trace mate’s teeth. Ross followed 
94 


IN MINERS' CAMP 

to the edge of the ledge and stood with his hands 
in his pockets watching until the stage rolled out 
of sight down the canon. Then, shading his eyes 
with his hand, he threw back his head and made 
a vain attempt to see the summit of great Dundee 
opposite. But the canon was too narrow, and the 
rock mass opposite too precipitate. It towered 
into the piercing blue of the sky without showing 
him its snow-capped, treeless peaks. But he knew 
they were there and under them, a thousand feet 
higher than the ledge on which he stood, were 
claims Seven and Eight, surveyed — after a fashion 
— by the man he had failed to interview in the 
hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. 

The Book of Forgetfulness loomed largely in 
his consciousness. It lay now on the shelf in 
his room. The last entry concerned this same 
Razorback Jones. He had made it on the train 
from Philadelphia to Harrisburg as soon as pos- 
sible after being reminded of his forgetfulness as 
he was leaving the University dormitory. He re- 
membered the relief with which he had written the 
entries, especially the last line : 

I. Things I Have Forgotten to Do. 

Call on Razorback Jones at the University 
Hospital. (Westerner who wanted to see 
some one else who had been in Wyo- 
ming.) 


95 


ROSS GRANT 


II. Immediate Result of I. 

None. Man didn’t even know of my ex- 
istence. 

III. What I Have Done to Remedy I. 

Nothing. Did not discover forgetfulness 
until too late for any remedy. 

IV. Results of III. 

None. Nothing gained and nothing lost. 

He scowled uneasily now at Dundee while the 
conviction lay heavily on him that when Razor- 
back arrived in camp and he learned what the 
surveyor would have said to him had he visited 
the old fellow at the hospital, it would be necessary 
to change those entries. 

And I hate to change ’em — like a dog I ” 
groaned Ross. It was one thing to accept the fact 
that he was becoming more and more careless — 
accept it with cheerful unconcern, and quite an- 
other to arrange his fault and its results in a 
methodical and businesslike way, submitting the 
same to the very one from whose eyes he most 
desired to conceal all faults. 

Just then a bolt was drawn behind him and a 
door opened, succeeded by steps across the office 
floor. The doctor was up, and Ross was turning 
to join him when his attention was attracted to 
Wort’s cabin by a prolonged creak of protesting 
hinges. The occupant of the shack was stand- 
96 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 

ing in the doorway calling in a silly, unsteady 
fashion : 

** Here, you Mucker I Come erlong back here I 
I don’t aim t’ tech ye, ye loony I Come back I ” 

In the slight figure which had darted out of 
the shack and was fieeing down the trail, Ross 
recognized the vacant-faced boy. Advancing 
curiously to the cabin, the newcomer greeted Wort 
who drew back muttering : Mucker, he’s got a 
queer notion in his head, he has.” 

“ Who is Mucker ? ” asked Ross, stopping at the 
door. 

Wort regarded him with a vacuous smile. 
** M’ boy,” he answered, sitting down on a box. 

W-Where’d he go?” 

“I don’t know,” Ross replied, backing out of 
the doorway as he glanced about the room. 

Opposite a rusty little stove was a bunk filled 
with dirty blankets. Other blankets lay in a 
heap on the earth fioor showing where some one, 
presumably not Wort, slept. There was a home- 
made table, a bench, a few broken dishes and the 
open telescope bag in sight. The only air and 
light penetrating to that unwholesome interior 
came from the doorway. Wort fitted perfectly 
into this scene. His woolen shirt was grimy. He 
sat there leering stupidly, a caricature of the 
man he might have been, and Ross, with a dis- 
97 


ROSS GRANT 


gusted glance, retreated. He had turned back to 
the office, when the sight of a man on the trail up 
the side of Gales Ridge caused him to hurry down. 

Dad I he shouted. “ Hello, Dad Page I 
The man halted half-way up and, raking off his 
cap, wiped his face on his shirt sleeve, for the sun 
was riding high now and pouring its heat down 
into the canon, stilling the wind and laying siege 
to the banks of rotting ice and snow. 

Wall, Doc, howdy ? grinned Dad as Ross 
reached him. “ I was comin^ up P see ye jest a 
minute. Why, boy, ye^re somehow growed up 
more.^^ 

Why not?^^ laughed Ross. a medical 

sophomore at this present minute, and surgeon's 
assistant in Miners' Camp 1 " 

“ I'm some glad t' see ye here, and so will Nick 
be when he gits here," assented Dad, gravely 
shaking hands with a grip of steel. “ It wouldn't 
hurt me none," he added, looking about, **t' set 
down hereabouts instid of clamberin' up this 
trail." 

They sat down on a near-by boulder and, bask- 
ing in the hot sunshine, plunged into the subjects 
Ross was longing to learn about. 

Page was Dad " all through the mountains. 
The powerfully built owner of Number Seven was 
also deputy sheriff of Big Horn County, but this 
98 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


fact did not account for the six shooter he wore at 
his hip. Ross had never seen him carry a gun 
before save when he was fulfilling the duties per- 
taining to his ofiice, and the boy had seen him 
often. He was the one man in camp that Ross 
had determined to talk with as freely as, it was 
evident, Dr. Scudder talked with Kansas Brown, 
and not only because the elder Grant had a share 
in Seven, but because Dad was a man to be trusted 
under all circumstances. 

** Now, Dad,’^ Ross began, I want to get to the 
bottom of the fuss over Seven and Eight.*^ 

Dad sagged forward, his elbows on his knees, his 
hands loosely clasped between. I wisht,^' he re- 
turned simply, “ that I c’d git t* th^ bottom of it 
myself, but I guess no one can but Razorback 
Jones, and he has vamosed.*^ 

Ross laid an eager hand on the older man's 
shoulder. I know where he is — that is, I know 
how to get hold of him I " 

Dad sat up and looked incredulously at Ross. 

You I Git a-holt of Razorback ? How ? " 

Ross explained while Dad listened with growing 
eagerness. “ Git a-holt of 'im. Doc, if so be ye 
can I " he urged. Tell 'im Fll pay his way out 
here. If he was so sick when he made th' survey 
that he let his helpers do about all of it he'll re- 
member who his helpers was, and where they're t' 
99 


ROSS GRANT 


be found, and among *em they can straighten this 
thing out. Git a-holt of ^im, Doc ! 

Then the excitement faded from Dad^s face and 
he dropped forward again, elbows on knees, con- 
tinuing meditatively : I want th^ thing cleared 
up as much fer th^ sake of the hull camp as fer 
myself. Things is gittin^ thick here — he touched 
his gun — “ and they wonT git no thinner Til the 
boundaries is settled.” 

In what way,” Ross asked, ** is Razorback to 
blame? What about the survey? And why should 
all of Miners' be taking sides when only two claims 
are involved ” 

Dad held up a restraining hand. More'n two 
claims is involved. ITl have t' go back t' th' be- 
ginnin* t’ have ye see it right. Have you got a 
piece of paper handy, so I can sort of make a 
drawin' ? ” 

Ross produced an envelope and his fountain pen, 
and for a few moments Dad bent laboriously over 
marks and letters. Ross watching intently became 
aware, presently, of being watched. He looked 
around quickly, only to catch a glimpse of a 
vacant, boyish face and staring eyes peering fur- 
tively around a rock behind them. Instantly the 
head was withdrawn, but not before Ross had rec- 
ognized the same frightened watchfulness that the 
boy had bestowed on Wort the previous day when 

lOO 



STRUCK A GOOD VEIN OF ORE ’ 




IN MINERS^ CAMP 


that individual was coming up the trail with the 
telescope hugged tenderly in his arms. Ross 
opened his lips to ask about the boy when Dad, 
straightening his shoulders, began his explanation 
of Dundee Seven and Eight. 

“ Years ago, Doc, when gold was first found in 
the quartz .of these mountings, and before pros- 
pectors took up with the idee of comin^ in here 
much, I come. I bought a ranch down in Wood 
River valley, ^n' then I hiked up here, climbed 
Dundee ^n^ begun nosin' 'round with a blowpipe 
'n' sich. You remember that. You was here then. 
Wall, finally I struck a mighty good vein of ore 
that lays like this : " 

Dad paused and spread the envelope on his 
knee, pointing with the fountain pen. 



ROSS GRANT 


We ^11 be supposin' that this here envelope is 
the side of Dundee over yon," he pointed at the 
mountain opposite. ** Then this space I'm markin’ 
out here is a ridge of rock about fifty feet high 
that runs up 'n' down Dundee away up there " — 
he transferred his attention from the paper to that 
part of Dundee nearest the sky — so fer up that 
ye can't see from here. We call it ^ Dundee 
Ledge.' Wall, I struck int' a fine vein, A E, of 
ore at this here spot, E. So I staked up a claim 
here and dug my discovery hole, put up my no- 
tices, 'n' like an idiot went below t' my ranch 
without findin' out — then — that there was another 
vein C D, that intersected A E, at 3. But still, I 
was all sound on that intersection 'cause my claim 
covered it as I had staked it. Ye can see that it 
does by this here dotted line. That stands fer my 
claim, and a dickens of a time I had t' climb 
up on Dundee Ledge 'n' drive the stakes. But, 
knowin' my notices 'n' the hole I dug would hold 
the claim 'til I had time t' put in some more assess- 
ment work, I went down t' my ranch, as I've said." 

Dad drew a long breath and stretching his feet 
out, pushed back his cap as though he was finish- 
ing a hard day's work. Dad was more accus- 
tomed to working his hands than his tongue. 
Behind them a slight figure slipped from behind 
the sheltering rock and made its way from boul- 
102 


IN MINERS* CAMP 


der to sage-brush until the stage trail was reached. 
Then it sped up the canon and out of sight. 

“About the time I left the mountings,” Dad 
continued, “ a feller name of Allan come here. He 
found this here vein C D, and staked it up to my 
claim. So fer all was as it should be. This Allan 
was a stranger from Kansas. I didn’t know 
nothin’ about ’im. Didn’t need t’. Neither of us 
recorded our claims at th’ time we staked ’em. 
It wa’n’t necessary. The stakes and notices would 
hold all right in law. 

“ Wall, while I was foolin’ ’round on my ranch, 
th’ mountings here promised t’ git right pop’lar, 
and I made up my mind it was time I had my 
claims reg’larly surveyed and recorded, and here’s 
where Razorback Jones comes in. I sent ’im up 
to do the work. All I knew about ’im was that he 
done surveyin’. I didn’t know that he had bad 
lungs and was too sick t’ work proper and good. 
He come up with a couple of men — don’t know 
who — and made the survey and brought it down 
to me. I seen he was lookin’ white ’n’ peaked ’n’ 
sick, but I never thought about its interferin’ with 
his work. All the directions I give ’im was t’ 
make his measurement from the biggest rock on 
top of the ledge. It sticks away up above the 
others ’n’ can be seen from all around, ’n’ looks 
likely t’ stand there fer ages. 

103 


ROSS GRANT 


“ Wall, when he brought th’ survey me I 
looked it over and seen that he described that rock 
a lot. I didn't know before it was anything but 
plain ^ rock ' a- towerin' high above the rest of the 
ledge jest a little above my claim boundary. 

“ But Razorback he wrote as how he had taken 
measure from a ^ huge rock with a dome-shaped 
top 'n' a shoulder projectin' toward th' north, etc.' 
I hadn't never noticed the exact shape of that 
rock, but it read all right t' me 'n' I took th' sur- 
vey t' Basin, the county seat of Big Horn, and had 
it recorded as ‘ Seven,' because there was six more 
claims below it on Dundee. 

“ Wall, before I found out Razorback's mistake 
along come Brown from Kansas and bought out 
Allan, on t' other side of th' ridge. He says that 
Allan told 'im t' fix over his claim accordin' t' 
th' survey, and not accordin' to my stakes, because 
th' stakes wa'n't right, so he got a surveyor and 
they went by Razorback's survey and run Eight 
right over my stakes and took in the intersection 
of the leads. He needn't tell me," bitterly, that 
at th' time, when he seen that them stakes didn't 
tally with th' survey, he didn't know Razorback 
had made a mistake ! No, he needn't tell me I ", 

“ But I don't understand. Dad," Ross broke in. 

Had Razorback taken measurements from the 
wrong rock ? " 

104 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 

Dad scratched his head. He must 'a' meas- 
ured from the right rock, because he left the stakes 
standiii^ where I put ^em, but when he come t^ 
write out the survey he must 'a* been seein* double 
or else he ^n^ the fellers helpin^ ^im got mixed up, 
fer he up and described a rock five hundred feet 
above the right one. See here,” Dad held up the 
envelope. ‘‘ I told 4m t^ make N his start fer 
measurin^ and he must 'dJ done that, but in the 
survey he described the rock at N, a long way 
from M, ye see.” 

“ I see I ” exclaimed Ross, enlightened. If you 
let your stakes tell the story of the boundaries of 
Seven that dotted line is right. But ” 

Dad took up the statement solemnly. But if 
the court, when it comes t^ settle th^ business, 
throws out th^ evidence of the stakes and accepts 
Razorback’s survey — why, it pushes this hull 
claim off the lead five hundred feet, where there 
ain4 any ore.” 

And yet you accepted it.” 

Dad writhed helplessly. I was a blockhead 
not to check it up myself. But any jury’ll see 
I’m right.” 

/‘Can’t you serve an injunction on Kansas and 
make him stop work until the matter is settled ? ” 
asked Ross. 

Dad smiled grimly. “ Yes, and so he could on 
105 


ROSS GRANT 


me, and I^d have t' stop too I So we ain^t either 
of us doin’ that, but we’re workin’ all the men our 
tunnels ’ll hold night ’n’ day. The feller that gits 
t’ th’ intersection first — if he finds a pocket of gold 
there — why, he’ll be the richest feller, eh ? ” 

Ross nodded understandingly, and glanced at 
the six shooter. 

But,” he broke out suddenly, this doesn’t 
explain how the other claims are affected.” 

“ That’s this way I ” explained Dad. When 
the other prospectors filed their claims, ’cause ours 
was th’ first t’ be staked, they jest took my stakes 
as the beginning of their measurin’ on the right 
side of Dundee Ledge and Kansas Brown’s on t’ 
other side. So if the court accepts the survey as 
it’s recorded fer Seven it’ll push my claim five hun- 
dred feet from where I staked it and the others 
beyond it will have t’ move along too. And 
if Eight is backed down the mountingside all the 
claims below ’ll go down too, and as we’ve found 
the ore is richest nearest the intersection all the 
claim owners on my side want my claim to stay 
as it’s staked, while all the owners on the left side 
of the ledge want me backed off’n the intersection 
and want Kansas’ stakes t’ hold.” 

“ And the men who don’t own anything are 
taking sides with those who do, are they ? ” asked 
Ross. 

io6 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


** That's the idee," assented Dad. I never seen 
Miners' in the state it's in now." Then, slowly, 

I know I'm in the right of the thing, but fer the 
sake of the camps " 

He came to a stop and scowled at a freight 
wagon rattling down the stage trail. ** Wall, git 
a-holt of Razorback if so be ye can, and I’ll stand 
by the outcome if it's agin me. I don't like 
fusses," touching his gun distrustfully. 

And yet you are the most efficient deputy 
sheriff in the county I " exclaimed Ross. 

“ I don't like fusses 1 " declared Dad again em- 
phatically, and then both fell silent watching the 
freight wagon. 

Its driver stopped at the foot of the trail up 
Gales Ridge and tied his team to the trunk of a 
pine tree. Then he came leisurely up the trail. 
In front of the two on the rock he paused. 

'Lo, Dad I " he said carelessly, glancing at Ross 
inquiringly. 

“ Howdy," said Dad civilly. ** Goin' below ? " 
Yep. Packed up a load of canned stuff fer 
the upper camp from Meeteetse." He still paused, 
but Dad seemed unaware of his presence longer. 
He was gazing up at Dundee, and had forgotten 
to introduce Ross. 

The stranger hesitated, looking at the young 
man. ** Dr. Scudder in ? " he asked. 

107 


ROSS GRANT 


Ross nodded, and the man went on up the trail. 

Who is he? asked Ross. 

Owns a ranch in th^ valley, was the short ex- 
planation. 

He doesn^t look sick I Ross exclaimed. But 
I suppose he must be, or he wouldn^t be after the 
doctor.’^ 

Dad turned and looked sharply at his com- 
panion. No, he ain't sick," positively. '' It 
might be better fer the doctor if he was— too sick, 
that is, t' come a-hikin' up here." 

“ What do you mean ? " 

Instead of replying Dad asked curiously, How 
did ye come t’ git here. Doc — with Dr. Scudder, 
that is ? " 

Ross related the story. 

Never seen 'im before then ? " 

“ Nope. Just think. Dad, he was a surgeon in 
Philadelphia once and lecturer in the University." 

“Why didn't he stay there?" asked Dad 
sharply. 

“ Exactly what Fd like to find out," returned 
the boy warmly. “ I don't know, but I suspect it 
was his health." 

“ I expect it was too I " assented Dad. He 
opened his lips, hesitated, and closed them again, 
all the while looking hard at Ross. 

“ He seems to be sort of a camp pacifier," Ross 
io8 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 

remarked absently. ** They seem really afraid of 
him.*' 

Yeh," muttered Dad. Guess they are when 
he's on deck " He broke off and hastily re- 

sumed the subject of Dundee Seven and Eight. 

Now, about Razorback, Doc. Jest keep it t' 
yerself that ye're tryin' t' git him. It's best in 
yer place here that ye don't take sides." 

" So Dr. Scudder says," assented Ross. All 
right. All right. * Mum's ' the word." 

Dad heaved his big frame up from the rock.^^ 
“It so happens," he continued, “that I hain't 
made mention that yer father is mixed up in 

Seven, so nobody knows here " Then he 

added before Ross could enlighten him on the 
subject of the camp's recently acquired knowl- 
edge, “I wisht that th' Fourth of July wa'n't a 
holiday. When men is on the ragged aidge of a 
fight it's a good plan t' keep 'em at work, but that 
can't be done th' Fourth. I'm lookin' fer trouble 
then, especially with Boots 'n' MacFadden ring- 
leaders in th' camps, 'n' both jest a-spilin' fer a 
fight." 

Ross, glad of an opportunity to avoid confessing 
his own speech in the Weller House, hastened to 
ask: “Is Boots in this camp?" His father's 
methods had made him ashamed of anything 
which might look like carelessness. 

109 


ROSS GRANT 


Dad nodded affirmatively to the question. Yeh, 
he’s here, and Mac in t’other. Boots is in it ’cause 
he owns the first claim below Seven, ’n’ Mac’s in 
’cause first of all he’s got a grudge agin Boots — 
’ll’ me I ” 

Dad started down the trail, but stopped to call 
back, “ Now if only they all felt called on t’ hike 
out t’ Meeteetse th’ Fourth — wisht they might feel 
called on t’ hike out t’ Meeteetse. Down there 
they’d mix up with s’ many others they’d sort o’ 
fergit th’ ruction here.” 

Ross watched Dad down the trail and out of 
sight up the canon and then turned slowly back, 
looking up at the ledge. Standing on its edge 
looking down was the freighter who had passed 
them a few moments before, and Ross wondered 
if he had heard Dad’s last remark. As the boy 
passed Wort’s shack, the owner raised his head 
from the dirty bunk and called : 

Hey there, D-Doc! Seen m-my boy — Mucker?” 

** Yes, I have,” Ross answered shortly, and went 
on without explaining. 

In the doorway of the office he was met by Dr. 
Scudder. His chief wore a light overcoat, gloves 
and hat. He answered the astonished inquiry in 
the face of his assistant by the careless informa- 
tion : “ I’m going below now. Grant, with Sims 
here.” 


no 


CHAPTER V 


COLLIDING WITH A FIST 

Ross stopped and looked at his chief incredu- 
lously. It was the first time they had met that 
morning, and the doctor looked ill. He was pale, 
with a pinched expression about the eyes and 
smoothly shaved lips. His eyes were peculiarly 
restless. They seemed to jump from spot to spot, 
his glance darting here and there over his assist- 
ant's face but refusing to meet the astonishment 
in his eyes. Sims grinned at the boy over the 
taller man^s shoulder, the near proximity bringing 
out the innate refinement in the doctor^s face, its 
hall-marks of breeding and education in spite of 
the overlaying film in expression and manner 
which so perplexed his incoming assistant. Sims^ 
face was frankly marked by his life, reddened 
eyes, sags of flesh underneath, a blotched skin. 

Dr. Scudder here, he^s goin^ down with me fer 
a few days,^^ added Sims ingratiatingly, viewing 
the boy^s wordless surprise with a broadening 
grin. The air away up here is so thin it don^t 
agree with some folks — him especially. 

III 


ROSS GRANT 


The doctor shrugged the shoulder next to Sims 
and said hastily, It may be youVe not seen my 
assistant before? 

Sims nodded. ‘‘ No, IVe never seen Doc Ten- 
derfoot, but IVe heard of *im. Guess he can take 
care of the full business here all right while you're 
away." 

For a moment Ross had been too dumfounded 
to protest. But now the protests broke out with 
spontaneous fervor : ** Doctor, I know you can't be 
dead in earnest about leaving now. A * few days ' 
would take you beyond the Fourth. I can't be 
left alone in the office then." 

Dr. Scudder turned aside and picked up his bag 
from a bench. He spoke as though he had not 
heard Ross. Dress Rodrigo's arm to-night when 
he comes over. That's all there is on the carpet 
now. If there are any new cases you can handle 
'em all right," carelessly. "I saw that yesterday." 

Ross clutched the door-jamb. Probably the doc- 
tor, not allowing any discussion of the feud in his 
presence, did not know of the danger which lurked 
in the holiday. 

But, Dr. Scudder — listen." Ross raised his 
voice involuntarily, so peculiarly dead to sound 
did the other appear. See here I Suppose there 
is an accident — and somebody gets smashed up. I 
couldn't handle a bad case. I don't know enough." 

II2 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


“ You'll get along in any case until I get back. 
Have to." The man's tone was as cold and color- 
less as the boy's was anxious. 

Ross's eyes narrowed, and his chin shot out, a 
habit he had when in a ‘‘ tight place." The 
doctor's seeming confidence in him, he felt, was 
not confidence at all but was assumed because of 
the latter's determination to ** go below." He 
spoke rapidly, breathlessly, backing slowly out on 
the ledge as the doctor and Sims moved forward. 

Let me tell you. Let me remind you — I have 
been talking with Dad — and Bill Travers said the 
same thing — the Fourth of July is a holiday here 
— and with the camp in the state it's in — if there's 
a fight there'll be broken heads — wounds in plenty, 
likely, that I can't look out for — and with you 
away — and I strange to the place and only your 
assistant — you mustn't be away, that's all I " 

As Ross's words came tumbling out, with an 
impetuosity born of his overwhelming anxiety, the 
man flushed and stopped waveringly. 

Oh, fudge I " cried Sims. What a fuss I No 
danger at all ! Come on." 

He took the hand-bag from the doctor's hand 
and, pushing past Ross, strode across the ledge. 
The doctor flushed, paled, hesitated and then, with- 
out speaking, followed. At this sign of failure, the 
perspiration appeared on Ross's forehead and he 

113 


ROSS GRANT 


burst out desperately : ‘‘ One thing more, doctor. 
The men who pay you have a right to expect you 
to be on hand when they need you most.” 

This shot went home. Ross had recalled the 
other's urgent declaration to Kansas Brown of his 
need of money. 

‘‘ Sims,” called the doctor. “ Wait.” 

Sims came back, still grinning. The doctor 
drew a long breath and wet his lips with his tongue. 
He seemed engaged in some internal struggle. 
Ross, watching breathlessly, wondered what attrac- 
tion ** below ” had with that bleary-eyed Sims. It 
was Sims, however, who cut the Gordian knot. 

“ Wall, Doc,” turning to Ross, “ I guess you're 
right. Now you lay low and I'll have Scudder 
back here by the Fourth good and plenty. See ? ” 

A haze of relief flashed over the doctor's face. 
** Yes, yes, Sims will fetch me up by the Fourth,” 
he promised easily. That is right, Sims. I 
should be here then, as Grant says.” 

Sims turned on his heel, nodding to Ross and 
addressing his guest : “ Come along then. I’ll get 
ye back here in time t' mend all th' bones that's 
broke on the Fourth. Come along.” Then to 
Ross with good-natured contempt, Look ye here, 
young man, that promise oughter rope yer tongue 
fer ye I ” 

Dr. Scudder drew a long breath of relief as Ross 
114 


IN MINERS' CAMP 

unwillingly accepted this promise by roping his 
tongue.” He hurried after Sims while Ross stood 
on the ledge and watched them go with many 
forebodings. He did not trust Sims' promise. 

It’s a frame-up,” he thought uneasily, to stop 
my mouth and get the doctor off. I could have 
kept him here by putting the loud pedal on the 
idea that the men who paid for his services would 
expect him to stay. That was the only idea which 
stuck to him. He’s in need of money, that’s evi- 
dent.” 

The boy took off his cap and ran his fingers 
through his hair. Dr. Scudder was not under- 
standable. “ There’s just one thing here I’m sure 
of,” he thought, “ and that is the doctor’s the odd- 
est man I ever saw. Doesn’t act alike for two 
minutes at a time, and no one would suspect he 
had ever seen the University of Pennsylvania. 
Not a flicker of interest in it or a question about 
anything I ” 

Ross watched the freight outfit out of sight and 
then, feeling that action was necessary to ward off 
an attack of the ‘‘ blue funks,” he went into the 
office and took stock of the medical appliances at 
his chiefs command. Opening the trunk under 
the medicine cupboard he looked in. An unut- 
terable confusion met his eyes, an astonishing jum- 
ble of tangled bandages, surgical instruments, 

115 


ROSS GRANT 


books, absorbent cotton — all the paraphernalia of 
a surgeon. Ross whistled, and the perplexity in 
his face deepened. 

And he was once a surgeon in a big hospital in 
Philadelphia I ” the boy exclaimed. Well,” he 
shook his head and sat back on his heels, I give 
it up I Guess the best I can do is to clean house 
and stop wondering over things I ” 

For half an hour he worked in the trunk, and 
then opening the medicine closet began to examine 
its contents carefully. Here a more astonishing 
state of affairs was revealed. The labels on the 
bottles did not, in every case, give a clew to the 
contents. Ross, familiar with the use of many 
drugs in his uncle's office, became confused and 
uncertain as he continued his investigation. Fi- 
nally, he closed the cupboard door and sat down 
on the bench beside the stove. He was thoroughly 
dismayed. 

Such carelessness,” he thought, ** I have never 
met with before. He has evidently taken tablets 
out of one bottle, failed to use 'em all, and dumped 
'em back into the first bottle he laid his hands on. 
Why, such carelessness is — is — criminal 1 ” 

The last word not only checked his thought but 
seemed to rise up and hit him on the head. He 
leaned his arm on the cupboard and laid his face 
down on it. The perspiration broke out on his 

ii6 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


forehead. Who else beside the doctor had forgot- 
ten ? He knew last night — and had utterly for- 
gotten — that the bottle of tablets was in the doc- 
tor's pocket. Through his mind raced all that his 
father had said and written on the subject of care- 
lessness — how, if first tolerated in the suburbs of 
his life, it would in time storm the very citadel of 
his chosen profession. That time had come, and 
the realization of it appalled him. He saw a cer- 
tain paragraph in one of his father^s letters as 
plainly as though it were before his eyes : 

and the price of success is too high for you 

to plant any obstacles in your path, and especially 
obstacles with such tenacious roots and bushy tops 

as carelessness and forgetfulness 

The ensuing hour was the blackest he had ever 
spent, with the humiliation of his personal failure 
added to the fact that his carelessness was endan- 
gering the life of the patient already entrusted 
to his care. He wandered into his room, but the 
sight of the Book of Forgetfulness gave him a feel- 
ing of actual nausea, and he hastily retreated to 
the ledge and the bracing air. He looked at his 
watch and estimated the hours that must elapse 
before the Mexican would come to have his arm 
treated. Then he shivered and buttoned his 
sweater up to his chin, but it was not the air which 
gave him a chill. 


ROSS GRANT 


Finally the pressure of the necessity to decide 
what he was going to do with that arm turned all 
his thoughts into one channel. He walked back 
and forth on the ledge with fists unconsciously 
clenched, and eyes unconsciously narrowed, think- 
ing. What could he use on that arm ? Where 
could he turn for a disinfectant ? And always he 
came up against the fact that there was nothing 
available. 

He had gone inside the office finally and thrown 
himself on a bench tired in mind and body when 
Wort staggered in, leaned uncertainly against the 
door-jamb and leered down at him. Swaying side- 
wise weakly, his legs far apart in the vain effort 
to steady himself, the newcomer demanded where 
“ Mucker had gone. 

“ Is ^ Mucker ^ his name? asked Ross absently. 

Wort turned his hands over and looked at the 
backs as though he were but making their ac- 
quaintance. “ Mucker a-ain’t his real n-name. 
Men call fim that. Name is — H-Henry. My 
bo-boy M-Mucker. He mucks in mine.^^ Wort 
waved his hands up in the direction of the Gales 
Ridge holdings. '' K-Know what muckin' is?" 

Ross nodded. He knew that mucking is the 
lowest work a laborer in the mine can be set to 
doing — clearing away the mud that collects on the 
fioor of the mine. 


ii8 


IN MINERS* CAMP 


Wort began again a minute examination of his 
hands. “ He ought t-to be at it n-now,” he broke 
out in an injured tone. Ou-ought t’ be ear- 

earnin^ money fer his poor old pa here the 

ready tears started and he staggered to his feet. 

I w-want t^ b-bring 'im back and s-set ^im t^ work 
m-muckin\^^ 

It strikes me/* retorted Ross, ‘‘that you might 
be at work up in the tunnel yourself without hurt- 
ing you any.’^ 

Worths eyes overflowed in self-pity. “Me? 
W-Why, Doc, I have — spells with my h-heart ** — 
here he laid his hand impressively on the pit of his 
stomach — “ have one — right now.^^ 

“ Well,^' said Ross irritably, “ you better go out 
and look for Mucker. I don’t want you here any 
longer.” 

“ W- Where’d I — look ? ” asked Wort. 

Ross pointed up the canon. “ He went in that 
direction. I’d not tell you if I thought you’d 
catch him in a hundred years I But you can’t. 
He can run like a rabbit.” 

A cunning expression overspread the drunkard’s 
face. He attempted no further speech, but de- 
voted the most painstaking care to his legs, which 
were unwilling to bear him down the trail and up 
the canon in pursuit of Mucker. 

This interruption had broken the line of Ross’s 
119 


ROSS GRANT 


thought. He had risen and was standing in the 
doorway watching Wort staggering down the trail, 
when suddenly a vision of Aunt Anne took the 
place of the drunkard — Aunt Anne reaching for a 
large bottle on the pantry shelf when he, Ross, as 
a child had run to her with a cut and bleeding 
finger. The label on that bottle, as it flashed be- 
fore his mental vision, caused the boy to let out 
a yell which penetrated the canon and brought to 
a standstill a man climbing the trail beyond Worths 
cabin. 

Ross recognized in him one of the Gales Ridge 
outfit who had occupied a place beside the stove 
the night before, and ran toward him shouting the 
one word, Turpentine ! Turpentine I 

Hey ? ” asked the man in a startled tone. 

Wot's that, Doc? 

Ross panted forth an explanation. *‘Up at 
the mine — somewhere — there must be turpentine. 
That is a disinfectant, a capital one! And there's 
none of any kind in this shack. Got any up 
there?" pointing up the mountainside. 

“Yep," the man returned. “Got lots of it. 
I’m cornin’ back down in an hour ’r so and I’ll 
bring ye a bottle that’s not been teched." 

Ross returned to the office feeling as though a 
new heaven and a new earth had been created. 
He was weak from the stress of his emotion but it 


120 


IN MINERS' CAMP 


was a weakness which was already passing, crowded 
out by the force of his relief. Now he could face 
the Book of Forgetfulness. Presently he took it 
down from its shelf and made his entries. With 
guilt and humiliation he wrote in his fault in full. 
With a feeling of very humble triumph he recorded 
briefly the remedy he had found, adding, Aunt 
Anne never liked Uncle Fredas disinfectants be- 
cause of the smell, and so she always used turpen- 
tine, and I happened to remember it.^* 

After dinner and a brisk walk he had so far 
recovered his “ nerve ” that he sat down calmly 
behind the post-office boxes and commenced a 
letter to his father, explaining the situation in 
claims Seven and Eight as presented by Dad 
Page. 

This is the lay of the land on Dundee I he 
wrote. There are two veins of ore which inter- 
sect like a big X. Claim Seven — yours and Dad^s 
— is on the right lower leg of the X, and Eight is 
on the left leg. Both Seven and Eight under 
their present surveys claim the intersection and 
all hands are working to get to it first and see 
what sort of ore it holds. Then they can see 
whether it^s worth fighting for and, also, the 
actual possession will count for the side that has 
it when the court comes to settle the matter of 
ownership. But it’s easy to see that the fight has 

I2I 


ROSS GRANT 


got to be a personal matter with both Dad and 
Kansas and all the rest of the camp. Both sides 
want to come out ahead for the mere sake of win- 
ning. The ledge that holds the dome-shaped rock 
runs right through the intersection of the X up 
and down. Dad says it hides the mouths of the 
tunnels in Seven and Eight from each other and 
the shacks where the men live who are working 
the rival claims. Dad says it is a good thing it 
does, because the men can go about their own busi- 
ness better. The two sets of employees canT quarrel 
very well, as Kansas employs Mexicans that donT 
speak English, while Dad^s Americans canT un- 
derstand Mex.” 

Then he wrote briefly of Razorback Jones and 
his, Rosses, intention to try to get hold him. 
“In the next mail,^^ he continued, “I’ll send a 
letter to Philadelphia and see what I can do 
toward running him down and bringing him out 
here to ” 

The writer did not flnish the sentence. Through 
the glass fronts of the pigeonholes he saw a man 
pass the window hurriedly. It was Harve Sickler, 
one of the group which had occupied the benches 
the night before. As he opened the door the boy 
laid his pen aside and came around into view. 

“ Doc,” said Harve hastily, “ Kansas Brown has 
bust Wort’s nose. The boys are bringin’ ’im up 
122 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


now. Shall I have ^em fetch ^im in here will 
ye go over his shack ? 

A broken nose and Dr. Scudder not here I ” 
was Rosses first thought ; his next was one of 
thankfulness that there was turpentine in camp 
and that he had thought of it. He went to the 
door and looked down into the canon. Two men 
were dragging and pushing the drunken Wort up 
the trail, and at that distance the embryo surgeon 
could see a blackened eye and the bloody and 
** bust nose. 

“ I'll do what I can for him until Dr. Scudder 
gets back," he said finally in a voice scarcely au- 
dible. “ Fetch him here." 

Harve stepped out on the edge of the ledge and 
cupping his hands around his mouth yelled : 
" Hey, Boots I Bring 'im up here t' Doc." 

Ross returned to the post-office corner hurriedly, 
gathered up the loose pages of his letter to his 
father and stuffed them into the lock-drawer 
under the shelf on top of the bag containing Uncle 
Sam’s money. Shutting the drawer with a bang, 
he tested it to make sure the spring lock had 
worked and then went into the kitchen to assure 
himself that there was hot water. 

How badly is Wort hurt ? " he called back at 
Harve. 

" Nose laid out agin his face," Harve answered, 
123 


ROSS GRANT 


adding : A bust nose on Wort don^t matter. He 
ain’t sober long enough t’ find out whether it’s 
straight ’r crooked. But ” — with a change of tone, 
and a sharp look at Ross — “ if Kansas Brown 
thinks he can git away with such work even on 
Wort — he better look out I This camp won’t stand 
fer it.” 

Ross heard the threat, but had no time to heed 
it, nor to understand that the man was attempting 
to sound his own sentiments on the subject, know- 
ing him to be the son of one of the owners of 
Seven. All the embryo surgeon thought of was 
the injured nose he must deal with. He had 
never helped to handle such a case as this before, 
and the fact that Wort was maudlin with drink 
and fear did not help any. 

Lay him on the bench,” Ross directed as the 
men entered the office. No, not on his back. 
On his side, face this way. Now the blood will 
run out of his nose and mouth. There, hold him 
quiet I Hold his head slightly raised — here — this 
will do.” 

Ross caught up a stick of wood and slipped it 
under the wounded man’s head and pushed a 
handful of absorbent cotton between his cheek and 
the rough surface. “ There ! now hold his head 
firmly.” 

With the injured man before him, knowing 
124 


IN MINERS' CAMP 

that the responsibility of the case rested on his 
shoulders, all of the diffident boy in Ross had 
changed into the interested, alert, embryonic sur- 
geon. He heard, without sensing, the low mut- 
tered sentiments concerning Kansas Brown. His 
entire attention was riveted on the nose. He di- 
rected one of the men, Harve, to hold Wort in po- 
sition. The second man he sent up to the shaft 
house after the turpentine which had not yet ar- 
rived. The third man. Boots, who was small and 
spry, he sent into the kitchen to bring boiling 
water. 

** Take these cloths,” he commanded, producing 
some from the chest, ** wring them out of the 
water as hot as you can and keep them over 
Worths face like this below the eyes. That will 
help to staunch the bleeding. Hurry now.” 

Then he turned to the medicine chest and, 
kneeling in front of it, began to dig among its 
contents. His keen interest in surgery and his 
experience with his resourceful uncle who, as a 
country doctor and makeshift surgeon among the 
miners in the anthracite coal region, had taught 
him the value of devices not laid down in the 
books over which he constantly pored. In over- 
hauling the chest that morning, he remembered 
coming across a bulb and tiny hose of rubber. It 
had once been attached to an atomizer, evidently, 

125 


ROSS GRANT 


and had been discarded because age had stiffened 
the rubber. But the boy knew it would serve his 
purpose. Cutting the bulb from the pipe he took 
the latter and turned again to Wort who, choking 
with blood, was alternately begging for a drink 
and protesting against being burned by the hot 
cloths that Boots was applying with more industry 
than discretion. Harve had disappeared, but in 
a moment he reappeared bearing a bottle from 
Wort's store. As Ross turned, the injured man 
was reaching eagerly for it. As action was quicker 
than explanation, Ross seized the bottle and hurled 
it out of the door over Harve’s head. 

“ His blood is thin enough and poisoned enough 
now," he jerked out, kneeling in front of Wort 
again. ‘‘ Keep that stuff away from him." 

This quick unexpected move did not tend to 
lower the men’s idea of Doc Tenderfoot's ef- 
ficiency. Even Wort turned his bloodshot eyes 
on his new physician with a certain awe which 
induced obedience and partial silence on his part. 
Without further comment, Ross measured the in- 
jured nose, and, the turpentine having arrived, 
proceeded in a task that excited the liveliest inter- 
est on the part of every one except the injured 
man. 

'' What's that rubber pipe fer, Doc ? " asked 
Harve. 


126 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


Ross cut two brief lengths from the tube and 
laid them on the bench. The nose has got to be 
held up in place/' he explained slowly. It’s got 
to be stuffed full of something. I’m hoping these 
pieces of hose will turn the trick and let him 
breathe naturally at the same time. If I should 
stuff the nostrils with cotton he’d have to breathe 
through his mouth. See ? ” 

** Where’d ye git that idee ? ” asked Harve re- 
spectfully. ‘‘ Out of a book ? ” 

Nope,” Ross shook his head. ‘‘ I didn’t get it 
from anywhere.” 

Well, how then ” began Harve in a puz- 

zled tone, when Boots interrupted. 

Ye boob, ye I He means he got it out of his 
head.” Then to Ross, Did ye, Doc? Did ye 
think it up yerself ? ” 

Ross nodded and, going to the medicine cup- 
board, selected an instrument with which he could 
raise the nose. This he carried into the kitchen 
and dropped into a basin of water and set it on the 
stove, explaining each move carefully to the inter- 
ested men, without a thought that by so doing he 
was raising their opinion of him momentarily. 
In half an hour, the patient’s pain having been 
deadened, he had lifted and straightened the 
broken nose, inserted the lengths of rubber tube 
in the nostrils and held the nose in place firmly 
127 


ROSS GRANT 


with adhesive plasters across the cheek, which left 
only the damaged eyes and weak mouth in view. 
Presently their owner, looking about dazedly, 
called for a drink. 

“ See here I cried Ross sharply, ** that^s exactly 
what he mustn^t have. He’s got to stay sober 
enough to guard his nose. If he should hit it or 
fall on it — that’s what he would do if he were 
drunk ” 

** I’ll tell ye what we’ll do, boys,” Boots inter- 
rupted. We’ll keep ’im up t’ th’ bunk house a 
while and look after ’im.” 

Ross gathered up the various surgical tools he 
had used, while the injured man sat up and 
leaned against Harve. 

Some one,” suggested Ross, ‘‘ better gather in 
all the whiskey he’s got — and pour it down the 
hill.” 

He looked at Boots as he spoke. So did the 
others. It was natural, wherever a group of the 
Gales Ridge men were gathered together, for Boots 
to take command. 

‘‘ Harve,” he directed, “ ye go over to his shack 
and hide the wet goods.” 

Ross followed the men out-of-doors and stood at 
the corner of the shack, watching Boots and the 
third man half boost and half carry Wort up the 
steep trail toward the Gales Ridge bunk house, 
128 


IN MINERS' CAMP 


the roof logs of which were barely visible from 
the ledge. Fainter and fainter grew the patient^s 
whining, cringing voice. 

Ross watched until Harve, who had entered the 
squalid cabin among the pines, came back carry- 
ing the old battered suit case that Bill Travers 
had lifted with such care from the stage. 

Say, Doc,^^ said the bearer hastily, “ this here 
is Worths wet goods. Take it, won’t ye? and keep 
it. It ain’t ours t’ pour out and we can’t keep 
Wort from it if it’s where he can lay his hand 
to it I ” 

Reluctantly Ross received the charge and carried 
it inside. “ Where under the sun shall I put it 
where Wort can’t find it?” he asked himself as 
the bottles inside chinked together. '4f I could 
lock it up ” 

He paused, glanced toward the doctor’s door, 
whistled and nodded. Under the circumstances, 
Dr. Scudder could not think it impertinent of him 
to use that room and the lock on the door, pro- 
viding the key was to be found. To his satisfac- 
tion it was in the lock inside. The room behind 
the lock was pleasant and well furnished. There 
was a bed with springs and mattress instead of a 
bunk, and a dresser and clothes-press. The rough 
fioor was covered with a heavy rug, and a big 
leather upholstered chair stood beside a table lit- 
129 


ROSS GRANT 


tered with books and magazines. The table stood 
beneath a half window that like all other windows 
in camp opened by sliding back in grooves. Ross, 
having deposited the bottle-filled suit case beneath 
the bed, started for the door when he noticed that 
the window was open a few inches. 

“ That won^t do,’’ be said aloud. ‘‘ That man 
Wort wouldn’t mind a little climb if the wet goods 
could be found at the end.” 

He pushed the table out of the way and looked 
through the dirty window down at the edge of 
the ledge. 

“ Huh I ” he nodded. '' Wort can’t climb in 
here.” 

Directly under the window sheltered from view 
from any other point was a hole guarded by a 
huge boulder lodged in a crevice just where the 
ledge jutted out from the mountainside. Satisfied 
that it was practically inaccessible, Ross closed the 
window and was pushing the table back into place 
when the jar dislodged a small object which fell 
to the floor. Ross stooped to recover it and gave 
a startled exclamation, for small as the object was 
it carried a world of meaning to the embryo sur- 
geon. It was innocent in itself, something to be 
found in the possession of all physicians — a hypo- 
dermic needle, but the sight of it in Dr. Scudder’s 
room instantly explained the man’s strangely vary- 
130 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


ing moods. Its constant use explained his retire- 
ment to his room periodically, explained the locked 
door which insured him privacy while he injected 
the morphine in his arm. The needle was broken 
and had been cast aside as useless. Replacing it 
on the table, Ross left the room, locking the door 
and putting the key in his pocket. He carried 
with him both enlightenment and perplexity. 

In a silence enforced by the deaf-mute cook he 
ate supper. He ate heartily without, however, 
knowing what he was putting into his mouth. 
He felt that he was up against it with a chief 
whose habits made him singularly careless and 
irresponsible, and between two camps waiting like 
bombs with fuses inviting the match. And the 
more he thought of it, recalling the muttered 
threats of the men hanging over Wort, the more 
uneasy was he lest the fuses had been lighted when 
Kansas Brown bust the former^s nose. So in- 
terested had he been in his surgical predicaments 
that he had not inquired why Kansas had felt 
called upon to do the busting, nor where. 

After supper, he returned to the office, intend- 
ing to finish the letter to his father. He felt fairly 
grateful to himself and his newly-awakened facul- 
ties that in the anxiety attendant on the ** bust 
nose he had not forgotten to lock that letter, 
with its information concerning Razorback, away 

131 


ROSS GRANT 


from any prying eyes. He felt that it would be a 
“ cold day before he could again look compla- 
cently on any act of carelessness, however slight.' 

Going behind the post-office boxes he sat down 
on the bench and putting his hand under the 
drawer worked the combination of the spring as 
Dr. Scudder had taught him to do and pulled out 
the drawer. But instead of going on with the 
letter he' sat staring down at the jumble of pages, 
unable to draw his thoughts away from the tell- 
tale object on Dr. Scudder's table. He sat a long 
time thinking. He went back to the conversation 
he had with the doctor's brother and the guarded, 
hesitating way ** chief " Gaynor had spoken of the 
camp physician. But more minutely did he con- 
sider the abrupt changes in Dr. Scudder's manner 
and his sudden transitions from depression to ela- 
tion. And the longer he thought the more uneasy 
he became. 

Finally a noise aroused him. He had heard it 
before. It was the protesting creak of Wort's 
cabin door. Telling himself that Wort had come 
sneaking back in search of the wet goods " he 
arose idly and looked out of the window. Twilight 
had fallen and the shadows beneath the pines at 
the end of the ledge buried the shack in darkness. 
Behind the trees, however, a high bank was exposed 
to view and on this bank Ross saw a peculiar sight. 
13? 


CHAPTER VI 


THE STORM CENTER 

Over the top of this bank, from the direction 
of the Gales Ridge bunk house, figures were creep- 
ing, dim silhouettes only, in the failing light. Ross 
counted six as they slipped silently, one after the 
other, down from the bank and were swallowed 
up in the blackness beneath the pines. As the 
sixth figure disappeared, the watcher exclaimed 
“ Boots I He was recognizable by his stature and 
his spryness. Immediately there followed the slow 
creak of the cabin door, cautiously closed. 

For a few moments Ross stood looking, listening 
and wondering. He recalled the contents of the 
cabin, no seats and no air, with the door closed. 
What could six men want with anything in the 
interior of that shack? Ross watched the exit 
from the group of pines, expecting momentarily 
to see the men emerge and go down the trail. 
But no one appeared, nor was there movement of 
any kind beneath the pines. 

“ Odd, somehow, that,^^ Ross muttered. “ It 
doesn^t look right and yet — what can there be 
wrong about it ? ” 


133 


ROSS GRANT 


And why under the sun, he further questioned, 
should the men clamber over that bank instead 
of coming down by the trail that led straight past 
Worths cabin? What sense in such a laborious 
course when an easy one lay twenty feet away ? 
Furthermore, he could not only hear no movement 
in the cabin but he could see no light. Surely, if 
the men were all crowded into that cabin, the door 
must be open for ventilation. Perhaps there was 
a light made invisible to him by the trees. 

Curious, and also vaguely alarmed by the 
sinister secrecy of the affair, he determined to 
investigate without showing either interest or 
anxiety. Therefore he sauntered out on the ledge 
whistling loudly and discordantly, and proceeded 
to shy stones idly at the rock where he and Dad 
had been sitting that morning. A selection of 
stones of the right size took him finally along the 
ledge to the trees. Still whistling noisily and 
noisily flinging the stones, he worked his way to 
the front of the cabin and saw that the door was 
shut and the interior of the shack dark. He fussed 
about near the cabin until he heard enough move- 
ment within to assure him that his eyes had not 
played him false, and then he worked his way 
back to the office as carelessly as he had come. 

At the office door, however, a possibility oc- 
curred to him of so illuminating a nature that it 

134 


IN MINERS' CAMP 


stifled his whistle and sent him swiftly to the 
medicine cupboard and the chest. Into his mind 
flashed the comments of the men who had brought 
Wort to the office — comments which Ross had 
scarcely heard at the time, but which, recalled now, 
all pointed threateningly at Kansas Brown, who 
had “ busted " Wort's nose. The trail by which 
Kansas must reach the office lay past Wort's cabin, 
and Kansas was more than due now with the 
Mexican. Dr. Scudder had told him to bring 
Rodrigo to the office again that evening. This ac- 
counted for every move by the six men. They had 
come over the bank because the pines concealed it 
from a possible foot passenger on the trail from the 
cabin down to the canon ; they had closed the door 
and were waiting under cover of darkness and 
silence for Kansas — six against one I 

Ross's teeth came together with a click. The 
lack of fair play in the ambush aroused his anger 
to a point where it submerged his fear and intensi- 
fied his feeling of acute responsibility. He knew 
it was up to him to save, not only Kansas Brown, 
but to step figuratively on the fuse which would 
blow the upper and lower camps into open war- 
fare. What the six, under the leadership of Boots, 
intended to do he could only guess. 

“ Beat him up, maybe, but as he carries a gun, 
and some of them do, too " 

135 


ROSS GRANT 


The boy shook his head and with hands which 
trembled, collected the things necessary for the 
dressing of Rodrigo^s arm and stuffed them into 
his pocket. He did not doubt the accuracy of his 
conclusion. The only thing he held in doubt was 
the manner of his getting past that cabin at the 
end of the ledge without being stopped, for pass it 
he must. There was no other way of getting off 
the ledge, and he could not resort to any more such 
“ kid’s ” play as he had used on his tour of inves- 
tigation. As he was picking up the bottle of tur- 
pentine, he determined on his course. He took 
the bottle ostentatiously by the neck and swinging 
it on the side next Wort’s shack, slammed the 
office door behind him, struck into a lively whistle 
and strode purposefully across the ledge, past the 
dark and silent cabin, and with a side glance at 
the closed door he turned up the trail instead of 
down, in the direction of the bunk house and his 
patient. 

Once out of sight of the pines, however, he 
stopped under the shelter of a huge rock and, as- 
suring himself that no one had followed him, he 
made a detour across the face of Gales Ridge in the 
fast gathering darkness, and then slipping and 
sliding down into the canon, hurried up the stage 
track toward the entrance of the trail leading up 
the side of Dundee. Although not very familiar 
136 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


with this trail he had traveled it a couple of times 
the year before to Dad Page’s holdings and knew 
that it was well defined. All he had to do, once 
the entrance was found, was to follow its windings 
up and up. 

Half-way between the upper and lower camps he 
paused, uncertain of his way to the mouth of the 
trail. The darkness of the canon was relieved only 
by a faint light reflected from the towering, snow- 
clad peaks. All about him stood pines and spruces, 
swaying in a gentle wind. Under them moved 
densely black masses of shadows twisting and 
writhing uncannily. Twenty feet below the trail 
between its worn and perpendicular banks 
rushed Wood River, narrow, snow-choked, tem- 
pestuous. 

Ross kood still. He took off his cap and the 
wind cooled his head. It was damp with perspira- 
tion, while his unconscious clutch on the neck of 
the bottle had made his hand ache. As he was 
standing cap in hand trying to get his exact bear- 
ings, a footstep sounded on the trail ahead, and the 
next moment he was face to face with Kansas 
Brown. The meeting was a surprise to both. Ross 
stepped back precipitately, while Kansas’ hand in- 
voluntarily sought his hip. As soon as he saw 
who it was his hand fell to his side. 

** Oh — Doc Tenderfoot, ain’t it ? ” 

137 


ROSS GRANT 


“ Yes,” Ross answered. I — that is — whereas 

your man Rodrigo ? ” 

‘‘ I was goin’ over after the doctor,” answered 
Kansas hesitatingly. Rod ain't able t' hike over 
to-night. He's got a touch of fever and seems 
mighty weak. D'ye s'pose doctor'll come over ? '' 

He's gone,'' said Ross. “ He went below this 
morning with a man named Sims. But I was on 
my way up to see to that arm. I — that is — it just 
happened so — the night is so pleasant — and I 
haven't been out all day. I wanted the walk.” 

He spoke with a confusion which caused Kansas 
to regard him narrowly. But all he said was, 
‘‘ Gone below, has he — again ? ” 

Ross noted that again ” as he walked beside 
the other, across a foot-bridge made of a slender 
log with a wobbling hand-rail, but he asked no 
questions. Neither did Kansas, nor did he offer 
further comment, although whenever the trail was 
wide enough for them to walk abreast Ross felt he 
was being studied. When the trail narrowed he 
had an opportunity to look Kansas over as the lat- 
ter walked ahead. He was the opposite, physic- 
ally, of his opponent. Dad Page, a younger man 
with more agile movements, taller, more slender, 
and built with less waste muscularly. 

The evening before, despite the man's taciturnity, 
Ross had liked him, and the liking held now, al- 
138 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


though it was evident that Kansas did not feel as 
much confidence in the assistant surgeon as Ross 
felt in him. There was something as trustworthy 
and substantial in the man^s bearing as in Dad’s, 
something which made Ross decide that he would 
stand by a fellow till Doomsday if he said he 
would.” He seemed the sort of a man whose 
simple affirmative would be as binding as another 
man’s witnessed signature. Ross found himself 
wishing that Dad and Kansas were standing to- 
gether rather than on opposing sides. He found 
himself making excuses for the latter in the matter 
of the boundaries of Eight. Perhaps he was hon- 
est in not suspecting that Razorback Jones had 
made a mistake in the survey of Seven, Dad to the 
contrary. It might be that Kansas had taken the 
boundaries as described in good faith. 

“ Why not ? ” Ross reasoned when Dad had, 
according to his own statement, passed on the 
survey and himself recorded it at the county seat 
of Basin. The thought seemed disloyal to Dad, 
good stubborn old Dad I and Ross scowled help- 
lessly as he felt the clutch of the camp feud. Who 
was wrong, and who was right? Well, Razorback 
could answer the question, and Dad had expressed 
a willingness to stand by the decision. Would 
Kansas be as willing? Would the parties who 
were evidently led more by Boots and the un- 

139 


ROSS GRANT 


known MacFadden be willing ? Well, it would be 
his part to get hold of Razorback. He could do 
no more. 

After a half hour of steady and laborious climb- 
ing, Ross, badly winded, paused for breath at the 
entrance to that elevated area on the side of 
Dundee that contained, midway, the claims of 
Seven and Eight. Through this area, between 
the two contested claims, was Dundee Ledge, a 
high rock spine, half a mile wide that ran straight 
up the face of the mountain for a thousand feet. 
From his position Ross could see the mischief- 
making, dome-shaped rock which surmounted the 
ledge. The trail now ran almost on a level across 
the mountain, skirting the foot of the huge ore 
dump from Seven, circling the perpendicular 
jagged end of Dundee Ledge, and extending be- 
low the dump of Eight on the further side. 

Following his guide in silence Ross stumbled 
past the dump of Seven, his gaze turned upward, 
but the great pile of refuse ore running far up the 
steep side of the mountain shut off all view of the 
mouth of the tunnel and of the shack that the boy 
knew was located near the mouth. As he was 
traveling the last lap of the trail below the ledge 
it occurred to him that if the feud developed into 
open warfare Eight would have the worst of it in 
a matter of position, for the only feasible way to 
140 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


reach it was past the ore dump of Seven. When 
the two reached Eight Ross found its ore dump 
was parallel with Seven’s dump and hidden from 
it by the ledge. 

Beneath some scattered pines and spruces were 
three shacks, near the mouth of the tunnel. The 
largest was the eating shack. As Ross passed it 
he caught a glimpse, through the op^n door, 
of several men playing cards noisily at one end 
of an uncovered table. It was evidently the day 
shift off duty. Next to this shack was the bunk 
house, which Kansas entered. 

Only one bunk was occupied, and that was by 
Rodrigo. The Mexican was tossing about fever- 
ishly, muttering in his own language to some one 
crouching in front of the bunk. Ross waited in 
the doorway, while Kansas struck a match and 
lighted a lantern hanging to the roof logs over a 
rusty little sheet-iron heater in which a few coals 
still glowed. The dirty lantern showed a dozen 
or more bunks with disordered blankets and straw, 
coats and slickers hanging about on pegs, a few 
razors, pieces of soap and other scanty toilet ac- 
cessories lying on the projecting logs. 

'' Well, Mucker,” said Kansas in an oddly gentle 
voice as he steadied the swaying lantern, how’s 
Rod ? ” 

The crouching figure beside the bunk arose in 
14X 


ROSS GRANT 


a frightened, cringing way. When he saw that 
Kansas was not alone, he ducked as though dodg- 
ing a blow and stood huddled together half bent. 
His head was well shaped and normal on the right 
side, but on the left, above the ear, there was a 
curious dent, around which the hair was gray. 
He had agreeable features spoiled by wide, vacant 
eyes. 

As Ross advanced, he sprang back, with an 
animal-like motion, behind Kansas. The latter 
laid a hand reassuringly on his head. 

“ Won’t he git me, Kansas?” Mucker quavered. 

” Nope,” returned Kansas soothingly ; “ no- 
body’ll git ye here. Mucker. Ye’re safe.” 

Mucker thereupon stood straight and peered out 
from behind his protector at Ross. The latter, 
drawing the dressings from his pocket, came in 
contact with some lemon drops he had purchased 
in Cody. 

” See here, Mucker, like candy ? ” he asked. 

The boy’s eyes brightened with greedy desire. 
He came forward, a dirty hand extended. As the 
hand was being loaded with candy the owner 
winced and Ross noticed a sore on his palm. 

” What’s that ? ” asked Ross. Hurts, doesn’t 
it?” 

Mucker put his hand with the candy into his 
pocket and held it there, making no reply. 

142 


IN MINERS' CAMP 


What d'ye mean?" asked Kansas. “What 
hurts? Here, Mucker, show us that hand." 

Mucker whimpered and drew back protestingly, 
but Kansas, speaking soothingly as to a child, 
drew the hand into view and held it while Ross 
made an examination, painful to Mucker and em- 
barrassing to Ross, who felt keenly the uneasy 
distrust in Kansas Brown's manner. 

Of course by this time, Ross thought, the other 
had heard of the fact that the elder Grant was in- 
terested in Seven, therefore, the younger must 
necessarily belong in the enemy's camp. Ross 
opened his mouth once to tell Kansas that he was 
neutral in the matter, but Kansas spoke just then. 

“ Huh I " Kansas ejaculated with gruff sym- 
pathy. “ I didn't know his hand was in that 
shape. Guess he didn't tell me fer fear I'd send 

'im back t' Gales Ridge — t' his father "the 

speaker came to an abrupt stop, and glanced 
sharply at Ross. 

“ While I don't usually like to have people 
hurt," said the latter instantly, meeting Kansas’ 
eyes frankly, “ I must say that it isn't altogether a 
bad thing that Wort's nose is plastered to his face.” 

An expression of surprise flashed over Kansas' 
face. He made no reply, nor did Ross pursue the 
subject, but the atmosphere of distrust seemed 
suddenly to lift. 


143 


ROSS GRANT 


“This is a fester and a half I exclaimed Ross, 
intent on the hand. “ Guess there's a sliver at the 
bottom of it, driven deep into the palm. Let’s 
wash that hand clean. Mucker, and I can get the 
sliver out in a hurry, before we attend to Rodrigo 
here. Does it hurt badly ? ” 

The boy cringed again. “ Awful.” 

“ Well,” said Ross frankly, “ when I go after the 
sliver it’s going to hurt worse, but when I get it 
fixed up it will be a new hand. Will you let me 
work at it? ” 

The tears ran over the boy’s cheeks. He looked 
from Kansas to Ross. “ I don’t want to be hurt 
worse,” he whimpered. 

“ That will last only a few minutes,” Ross as- 
sured him, “ and then I’ll — I’ll feed you candy for 
a week,” he added in a burst of inspiration. 

That won Mucker’s confidence. He consented 
to the “ worse ” hurt, bore it with the fear and fuss 
of a child, and, after the hand was dressed and 
bandaged, recovered as quickly and with the tears 
dried on his cheeks began munching lemon drops 
while he followed Ross about as the latter gave his 
attention to Rodrigo. 

It was an uneasy attention. With Kansas’ help 
he dressed the arm. There he felt sure of himself. 
But when with Kansas as imperfect interpreter he 
asked the sick man a few questions about himself, 
144 


IN MINERS* CAMP 


he knew he was traveling unfamiliar ground. He 
knew also that Dr. Scudder ought to be in camp, 
where he was paid for staying. He took Rodrigo’s 
temperature and then stood looking down at him 
thinking, his fingers on the sick man’s racing pulse. 

“ Mr. Brown,” said Ross finally, frankly, “ I 
wish we could get hold of Dr. Scudder. This man 
ought to have him. I’m not much in a case like 
this, only as a regular physician tells me what to 
do — and that’s what I came to camp for — to work 
under Dr. Scudder, not without him. We ought 
to have him here now. This is a pretty bad case 
of fever.” 

Kansas twitched one shoulder and snapped his 
thumb and finger together. Wall, Doc, wishes 
won’t fetch ’im, and if they would Rod 'ud still be 
better off in your hands right now.” 

Six hours ago this speech would have astonished 
Ross, but the sight of the broken needle was suffi- 
cient explanation. He returned no comment, but 
looked at Rodrigo again, his forehead tied into a 
worried knot. 

“ Let’s see,” he said after a pause, speaking more 
to himself than to Kansas, “ what did uncle give 

that miner in Dorranceton that had a Oh, 

yes I ” His forehead unknotted itself, and his chin 
shot out. He straightened himself and spoke di- 
rectly to Kansas. I’ll do my best with him. I’ll 

145 


ROSS GRANT 


go back and get some aconite tablets. I’m sure I 
saw some to-day in the medicine cupboard. , I think 
they’ll help — at least,” candidly, '' if it doesn’t 
help it won’t hurt — and then I’ll come back and 
stay with him to-night. I may not be giving him 
the best medicine he could have, but I know how to 
nurse him — that much I got from my uncle, and 
that’s a lot, care is.” 

Kansas looked down at the Mexican without re- 
plying for a moment. Then he looked up at Rod- 
rigo. His voice held a note of gratitude, while the 
last vestige of distrust was stripped from his 
manner. 

“ I’d take it in good part. Doc, to have ye 

stay ” he hesitated and looked at the boy 

searchingly. ** Are ye sure ye want to ? ” 

Ross returned his gaze wonderingly. For a mo- 
ment the feud between the camps had passed out 
of his mind. Want to?” he repeated. ‘‘Why 
— yes, of course. I want to do everything that 
I’m able to do to save Rodrigo. I’ve got to go back 
to get the aconite, but before I go I’ll fix him up 

with some ice on his head Can you get me 

some ice ? ” 

“ There’s never a lack of ice on Dundee,” Kansas 
replied. “ How d’ye want it, hacked up small? ” 

Ross nodded. He was scanning the clothing 
hanging over the bunks. “ What we need,” he 
146 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


said, is an ice cap, but we haven^t one, and the 
next best thing is — some of you must have oilskin 
caps, if your tunnel drips as much water as all the 
rest of the tunnels do/^ 

I see,^^ returned Kansas quickly. You want 
somethin^ that’ll hold ice without meltin’ an’ wet- 
tin’ everything around. Here’s my cap.” 

The man turned to his own bunk, swept some 
clothing oflF the pegs over it, picked a sou’wester ” 
from among the tangle, and handed it to Ross. 

Turned upside down, full of ice, with Mucker 

here to see that it don’t spill over Say, Doc, 

that’s an idee and a half ! ” 

The eyes of the two met in a flash of good will, 
and then Kansas started for the door, slowly fol- 
lowed by Mucker. 

The ice will be here in ten minutes,” he called 
over his shoulder. At the door of the bunk house 
he paused long enough to add, '' I’ll go back t’ th’ 
office with ye. Doc. It’s almighty dark fer a 
stranger t’ foller such a tricky trail as Dundee 
alone.” 

Ross’s hands crumpled the yellow oilskin cap. 
He spoke vehemently. '' No, no ! I know the 
way — I’ve been over that trail before — last year. 
I shall go alone. It won’t take me long.” 

'' When ye git ready to go,” said Kansas with 
flnality, ‘‘ I’ll be right along with ye.” 

147 


ROSS GRANT 


He left Ross clutching the sou’wester in help- 
less alarm. What should he do ? How should 
he prevent Kansas from passing that cabin at the 
entrance to the ledge ? If he told the man of his 
fears he felt sure he would go anyway, for Kansas 
bore none of the hall-marks of the coward. In 
this case Ross would be precipitating the very 
fight he had schemed to avoid. No, he could not 
allow the other to walk into the trap unwarned, 
neither could he tell him of the trap. Then how 
manage the matter ? 

The assistant surgeon had not answered the 
question when Kansas and Mucker returned with 
a pailful of ice. Mechanically, clutching wildly 
at some plan that should relieve the situation, 
Ross filled the water-proof hat with ice and setting 
it on the sick man’s head stood holding it while 
Kansas waited to accompany him back to the of- 
fice. The boy could see no way out of the dilemma 
when Kansas himself opened the way by com- 
manding Mucker to run over to the eating shack 
and eat his supper. 

^‘Haven’t you had yours?” asked Ross, catch- 
ing at a respite. Then in response to a shake of 
Kansas’ head he added eagerly, Go on and eat. 
I’d like to stay here a while and see the effect of 
this on Rodrigo — see if it reduces his temper- 
ature.” 


148 


IN MINERS* CAMP 


It was a reasonable proposition, and Kansas as- 
sented at once. As soon as he and Mucker had dis- 
appeared inside the mess cabin, Ross left his patient 
abruptly and ran swiftly and as silently as he was 
able past the other shacks, down the trail and 
around the end of the ridge. He was in search of 
Dad. Dad might be the natural enemy of Kansas, 
but he was square, and he was as anxious as Ross 
to avoid a rupture in camp. He could tell Dad 
his fears without increasing the difficulty, because 
it was Dad's partisans who were collected in Wort's 
cabin — provided they had not become tired of 
waiting. 

His breath came in gasps as he stumbled and 
clawed his way up over the dump of Seven. It 
was too dark for him to see the trail which wound 
around the dump, and he was too excited to do 
any calm searching. As luck would have it, when 
he reached the summit he ran on Dad himself 
coming out of the mouth of the tunnel, where he 
had been giving directions to the night shift. 

Hello, Doc I " Dad exclaimed in amazement. 

What's brought ye here this time in the 
evenin' ? " 

In reply, Ross laid hold of Dad's arm with fin- 
gers that gripped. ** Dad, I haven't time to tell 
you — I've got to get back to Eight before Kansas 
gets through eating. Can't you walk with me 
149 


ROSS GRANT 

down to the corner of the ridge while I ex- 
plain ? ” 

Dad raised the miner’s candle that he held 
lighted in his hand and by its flickering rays 
looked at Ross. Then, blowing out the candle, 
he loosened the boy’s unconscious grip on his arm 
and laying a calming hand on his shoulder, led 
him down around the dump by an easy path. 

‘‘ Now, out with it. Doc I ” was all he said. 

The explanation came out swiftly and somewhat 
incoherently, but Dad could easily supply all miss- 
ing links. It may be,” Ross ended, that I’m 
more scared than I need be.” 

Nope,” returned Dad anxiously. “ It means 
mischief with Boots in it. His claim is right down 
below us here. He’s in this matter up t’ his ears. 

And to-day ” Dad paused and then went 

on : ‘‘ Ye see, the Mucker is scared of his father 
when he’s drunk and runs up here to Kansas. 
This afternoon Wort come after ’im — and Kansas 
give ’im the rough aidge of his fist. I don’t doubt 
Wort needed it, but right now it wa’n’t the thing 
t’ do — I don’t love Kansas none, but I don’t want 
th’ camps in a fight — and,” with decision, my 
side ain’t goin’ t’ start no ruction while I’m able 
t’ be travelin’ these trails. I’ll say fer Kansas,” 
with visible reluctance, that he’s white to 
Mucker, and the boy needs a little white treat- 
150 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


ment. Once when he was little, ‘Wort hit 4m on 
the head, and he’s never fergot it, and so now he’s 
afraid ” 

“ But,” interrupted Ross in an agony of appre- 
hension, as they reached the end of the ledge, 

** what shall I do — and you — and Kansas ” 

Go right along quiet like,” said Dad stopping, 
“ and jest do as Kansas says. Let ’im go with ye 
t’ git yer stuff and I’ll ’tend t’ the rest. That’ll 
be easy as snuff I Go long and jest stop actin’ — 
well, jumpy like.” 

Ross did as he was bid without further parley. 
He had put the case in good hands, he believed, 
although he had no idea what Dad intended to 
do. He hurried up the side of the dump of Num- 
ber Eight and entered the bunk house in time to 
find the ice cap upset and the water running about 
the Mexican’s shivering shoulders. Hurriedly he 
repaired the mischief, and was holding the cap into 
place again when Kansas entered, wiping his mouth 
on the back of his hand, Mucker at his heels. 

” Now, Mucker,” said Kansas, come here and 
do jest as Doc tells ye. We’re goin’ away fer an 
hour, but no one ’ll git ye, Mucker. The day 
shift is cornin’ here t’ sleep now, and you’ll be as 
safe as if I was here.” 

Whenever he spoke to the boy the man’s voice 
took on the peculiarly kind tone in which we 

151 


ROSS GRANT 


speak to a sick baby. He drew him forward 
gently, and Ross with awkward kindness sought 
to allay his fear and show him how to hold the 
cap, empty out the melted ice and refill it. 

Finally having persuaded the boy to stay at his 
post, Kansas and Ross retraced their steps toward 
Gales Ridge, the latter in an agony of apprehen- 
sion over Dad’s movements. They passed the 
dump of Seven in silence. No one was in sight, 
nor did they see any one as they made their way 
down the canon and up the side of Gales Ridge. 
Apprehensively Ross strained his eyes toward the 
cabin beneath the pines. It was still dark and 
silent. Not so the office, however. It was lighted 
and inhabited, and as the two passed Wort’s cabin, 
Ross saw the office door was wide open, and his 
apprehensions transferred themselves to the doc- 
tor’s shack. 

He led the way across the ledge on knees that 
trembled. Unconsciously he kept clearing his 
throat. As he approached the open doorway he 
essayed a whistle, but it died into a croak as he 
recognized Boots and Harve in the group seated 
around the heater. He entered on feet that al- 
most refused to bear him forward. Then, all at 
once, inside the door, fear gave way to relief. He 
drew a long breath and with a brief nod in the 
direction of the stove, made his way across the 
152 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


room to the medicine cupboard, followed by Kan- 
sas. With cold fingers he selected what he needed 
and then stepping to the door of the kitchen raised 
his voice at the deaf and dumb man washing 
dishes. 

I won^t be here to-night, Hank,^^ he yelled. 

I^m going to take care of Rodrigo. He^s worse I ” 

Hank scowled at him and began making rapid 
passes with his fingers. 

Here,^' said Kansas, Fll tell ^im,^^ and his 
fingers also began to move. 

Ross stepped back to the cupboard. His ex- 
planation had been intended for the silent group 
about the stove, and not for the deaf-mute. 

Chilly out to-night,” remarked Ross cheerfully 
as he pushed the bottles about in the cupboard. 

Yeh,” responded Boots. 

** It takes some exercise just to keep me warm 
inside of a sweater,” Ross proceeded yet more 
cheerfully. ** A fur-lined overcoat would be more 
to the point.” 

Yeh,” Boots responded. 

The group did not seem disposed to engage in 
conversation. 

When Kansas came back from the kitchen 
Ross asked, All ready ? ” and the two left the 
office, Ross calling a civil “ good-night ” over his 
shoulder. 


153 


ROSS GRANT 


** Good-night/^ came an unwilling chorus. 

Ross smiled into the darkness, for leaning 
against the door-jamb — his hands deep in his 
pockets, his cap shoved to the back of his head — 
stood Dad, his chest rising and falling in deep 
breaths caused by the rapidity of his entrance into 
the scenes — and plans — on Gales Ridge. 


154 


CHAPTER VII 


THE TRAP 

Silently Ross and Kansas swung down the 
side of Gales Ridge, the older man leading, the 
younger rejoicing over Dad and the effective aid 
he had rendered easy as snuff! The boy 
readily saw that the mere appearance, unexpected 
as it was, of the powerful deputy sheriff among 
the men who, though his professed adherents, yet 
were opposed to his peace policy, would effectually 
block their hastily formed plot against Kansas. 

As the two reached the canon the creak of a 
heavily laden wagon reached them and the crack 
of a “ black snake.^^ 

Kansas paused, muttering, Wonder if that 
freighter’s fer me ? ” 

Ross, asking no questions, stopped also and 
presently a freighter’s long outfit came crawling 
into view in the moonlight, three spans of bron- 
chos guided by a single “ hitch rein ” and a long 
writhing “ black snake,” in the hands of a noisy 
driver who walked beside the reluctant horses. 
The wagon, a heavy affair, was covered by a 

155 


ROSS GRANT 


tarpaulin and packed solidly. Ross wondered at 
the apparent weight of the load, which was only 
as high as the wagon box. 

As soon as Kansas saw the driver he whirled 
about abruptly and continued on his way up the 
canon. 

Then it^s not for you ? '' Ross asked, following. 
Before Kansas could reply the driver had halted 
him with a shouted : 

** Hey, thar, whoever ye be 1 
Kansas paused. ** Well ? ” 

Is Dad Page up P the office, d^ye know ? '' 

‘‘ Yes,^^ returned Kansas shortly, he is.^^ 
Behind them the freighter raised a stentorian 
voice. Page I Hey, there. Dad P-a-g-e ! Come 
along down here ! Vve got yer sticks I ” 

** Dynamite, isn^t it ? ” asked Ross as the two 
went on. ‘‘ Dynamite for Number Seven ? 

“ Guess so,^^ Kansas returned. I didn^t know 
when I heard th^ wagon but it was sticks fer me.” 

As they turned into the Dundee trail, Ross ven- 
tured on another question. ** How do you — and 
Dad — get sticks up here ? ” 

Back-pack 'em up,” said Kansas, jerking his 
thumb over his shoulder. “ The wagon will stop 
at the foot of this trail and all hands in Seven’ll 
turn out to-morrer or to-night and pack 'em up t' 
th’ powder house on their shoulders.” 

156 


IN MINERS' CAMP 


Ross stopped, panting with the climb, and leaned 
against a rock. “ Don't see how they can I " he 
gasped. It's all I can do to carry my shoulders 
up here, to say nothing of a box of dynamite 
added I ” 

Kansas stopped beside him, smiling, and when 
Kansas smiled his lean face lighted up attractively. 

“ Ye'll git used to it in time. Doc, and think 
nothin' of th' climb. It's the thin air up here 
next th' sky I " 

** I got so I could get around rather well last 
year when I was here," Ross returned, “although 
the worst trails got me up to the last. Always 
had to stop and blow more or less." 

There followed a moment's silence and then 
Ross exclaimed, “ Whew I What moonlight I The 
thin air certainly clears out the sunlight and 
moonlight. We never see such a dazzle in Penn- 
sylvania." 

“ D'ye like it ? " asked Kansas softly. 

Ross hesitated. “ Yes, of course I like it," he 
said honestly, “ but I'd like it better if I had it 
back in Pennsylvania. These mountains seem to 
me always sort of hanging over my head ready 
to tumble down on me. Still — a night like this — 
well, it can't be beat, that's all I I'd like to stay 
outdoors all night." 

Kansas nodded. “ That's me too," he declared 

157 


ROSS GRANT 


warmly. “ What I like on such a night is a 
blanket wrapped around me ’n^ my saddle fer a 
piller ^n^ my horse munchin^ near by *n' the smell 
of fire in my nose — a fire in the open. nothin^ 
twixt me ^n^ th' stars excepting only this good thin 
air I That’s livin’.” 

He sniffed it in deep content, leaning against 
the rock near Ross. 

Yes,” assented Ross slowly, that’s living — to 
you. But it’s queer about — well, about living. I 
presume when you think of what you’d like best 
to do that comes into your mind, doesn’t it? You 
can see what you’ve just said, can’t you?” 

That’s the idee,” quietly. 

** Now when I think of living — of what I’d like 
best to do I can see things so different.” 

Kansas turned toward him expectantly, and 
when Ross didn’t go on he prompted, ** Well? ” 

“ Maybe,” began Ross diffidently, ” you never 
saw the inside of an operating room ? ” 

” Nope.” 

” Well, when I think of myself doing the thing 
I like best I always see myself togged out in white 
like a mummy,” with an embarrassed laugh, ” and 
doing a difficult operation better than any one else 
could. That, to me, is living.” 

” In a shut up room in a city 1 ” added Kansas 
in a tone of unconscious disgust. 

158 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 

Ross chuckled. ** Yes, and the air isn^t thin, 
and the odors aren^t like the smoke of a fire in 
the open — not much ! They^re a bit thicker — 
but,*' here he squared his broad shoulders, ** that^s 
what I^m going to do — and do it right, too I ” 

I believe,'^ said Kansas slowly, ‘‘ that if I had 
t^ be hacked up I^d like ye t^ git int^ yer white 
clothes and do th^ job. Seems t^ me ye^d do it 
with every ounce in ye ! ” 

With this the speaker started rapidly up the 
trail leaving Ross to follow with a glow about his 
heart at the tribute from Dad^s rival. 

When the two arrived at the bunk house of 
Eight they were met by Mucker who besieged 
Ross for the promised candy. 

“ Got all I gave you eaten ? ** 

*‘Yes; hain’t you brought me more?^^ asked 
Mucker, his lip beginning to quiver. 

You shall have candy, Ross promised, to- 
morrow when I can go up to the store after it. I 
couldn^t go to-night. I hadn^t time.^^ 

There was only one store in Miners^ Camp, and 
that was at the upper ** diggings” 

Mucker, comforted, divided his attention be- 
tween Kansas and Ross until it was time for him 
to turn in. He babbled continually of the candy 
and Ross told him patiently over and over again 
that he should have lemon drops and sticks, pink 

159 


ROSS GRANT 


and white striped sticks, and chocolate drops, any- 
thing the upper camp afforded, and the probabil- 
ities were it would afford much in the line of 
sweets, as the miners were notorious consumers of 
candy. 

At Rosses suggestion, the sick man was moved 
into the bunk nearest the door where his nurse 
could pass in and out of the bunk house without 
disturbing the day shift of Mexicans, who were 
already rolling themselves in their blankets in the 
bunks. The two Browns were the only Americans 
at work in Eight. Kansas filled the heater with 
wood, closed the drafts and then going outside sat 
smoking in the moonlight. Jean Brown was in 
the tunnel with the night shift. 

Presently Kansas was joined by a couple of men 
from the upper camp. Ross, sitting on the foot 
of his patienPs bunk, could both hear and see 
them. Mucker, finding the group more interest- 
ing than the silent bunk house, went out and sat 
down behind Kansas. The men smoked and 
talked in a desultory fashion. They spoke of the 
work in the upper camp; of the valley news 
brought by Bill Travers; of the Fourth of July 
and the fact that no plans for a joint celebration 
had been made by the camps. It appeared they 
had celebrated together the previous year. These 
references caused Ross to strain his ears, but 
i6o 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


Kansas at once changed the subject by asking if 
his callers had “ run acrost th^ freight outfit at th^ 
foot of th^ Dundee trail ? 

They had, and already the men of Seven were 
back-packing the stuff up to Seven. This led to 
a discussion of Seven which held no interest to 
Ross, as Kansas had evidently managed to inform 
them of his presence in the bunk house. There- 
fore, the discussion was purely impersonal and 
centered around the question of the position of 
Dad^s powder house. 

** Tell ye what,'^ said one of the men, ** I sh'd 
hate V work in Seven with the powder shack right 
Jn the midst of things. Say I If that powder sh^d 
make a mistake an^ go off some day it ^ud blow 
the bunk house 'n^ the eatin^ shack and th^ 

The second stranger interrupted this with. 

Well, t' make a long story short, it ^ud blow the 
hull of Seven t^ Kingdom Come — all, that is, that^s 
above ground.^^ 

And some that^s under ground,^^ added the 
first speaker ; ** it 'ud knock the mouth of the 
tunnel high and crazy. 

A lively argument was soon in progress, Kansas 
having taken the position that such an explosion 
would expend its force on the ledge against which 
the shack was built and not reach the mouth of 
the tunnel or the bunk house. The two strangers 

i6i 


ROSS GRANT 


assailed this idea in voices which arose with each 
additional argument. 

Ye can^t tell me ! exclaimed one of them. 
“ If I should touch a match to a single stick in 
that powder shack, Seven ^ud be wiped clean off 
th^ face o* this little hill I 

Rodrigo, aroused by the loud, excited voices, 
began tossing about restlessly and talking dis- 
jointedly. Ross filled the souVester with ice and 
laid it on the sick man’s head, and then called 
Kansas in to interpret what he said, and the two 
strangers tramped away. The sick man was 
delirious, but silence and good care soon put him 
again to sleep, while Kansas and the Mucker oc- 
cupied the bunk next his. 

All night Ross attended Rodrigo faithfully, but 
there were intervals when he was free to go outside 
and sit huddled in his top coat and sweater away 
from the heat of the bunk house. Far below him, 
as he sat on a rock that raised its head above the 
dump, was the black cavern of the cafion. On 
the other side of this cavern, but still below him, 
were the lights at the entrance of the Gales Ridge 
tunnel. Ahead and very near rose the jagged 
towering dividing ridge between Seven and Eight. 
Above his head the summit of Dundee cut the 
sky. By four o’clock, just as the tunnel’s lights 
were dimmed by the approaching dawn, there was 
162 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


a muffled roar which made the mountain tremble. 
It was from Seven. 

“ Another shot put/^ thought Ross as he aroused 
himself from his cramped position on the rock and 
stepped inside the bunk house. 

Rodrigo was sleeping quietly. His face was cool 
and damp. Ross removed the ice cap, his thoughts 
lingering with Dad and Dundee Seven. 

Another explosion, nearer and more violent, 
shook the bunk house. It was the result of a 
“ shot in Eight. The two claims are going it 
together, neck and heels,*^ he thought. I won- 
der which will reach the intersection first. Of 
course I hope Dad 

Here he hesitated and looked behind him. In 
the bunk next to Rodrigo’s lay Kansas Brown, 
wrapped in a blanket, his head pillowed on a 
muscular arm, his lean, clear-cut face upturned 
and his thick brown hair tousled. Although the 
bunk was built to hold only one occupant comfort- 
ably, Mucker lay behind him, his head buried 
confidently under Kansas’ arm. He lay so quietly 
that Ross thought he was asleep until a grin 
spread over the vacant face and the boy’s eyes 
opened widely, watching the embryo surgeon with- 
out fear. He had evidently decided that Doc 
Tenderfoot would not **git” him. 

Ross, responding to the grin, went back to his 
163 


ROSS GRANT 


rock and sat staring down into the canon, gray 
now amid its trees while the snowy peaks were 
aglow with the pink of the sunrise. 

“ I like Kansas,^' Ross muttered, and I like 
Dad, but both of 'em can't come out ahead — wish 
they could I " 

Then his conscience smote him for such waver- 
ing allegiance when he thought of Dad, fine old 
Dad, glued to the door-jamb the previous night, 
a wordless but effective check on the hot-headed 
company beside the stove. Ross wondered 
whether he had found them in Wort's shack or in 
the office. 

At this point his thoughts were interrupted by 
the appearance of Kansas Brown's brother Jean, 
Ross’s companion on the stage three days before. 
He burst out of the mouth of the tunnel on a run, 
with his face glowing excitedly. Seeing Ross sit- 
ting on the rock, he checked his speed abruptly, 
and passed his hand over his face as though to 
wipe out all signs of the emotion which obsessed 
him. 

Good-morning," he said, stopping beside the 
rock ; how's Rod this morning ? " 

Better," said Ross. ^‘His fever's gone." 

Brown hesitated, glanced toward the bunk 
house and then back at the tunnel just as two 
Mexican laborers appeared peering out of its 
164 


IN MINERS' CAMP 


mouth jabbering excitedly. As soon as they saw 
the head of the night shift they jumped back, not 
waiting to see the quick sweep of his arm com- 
manding a retreat. 

“ Takes a dozen Americans to keep a dozen 
Greasers to work I exclaimed Brown, looking un- 
easily at Ross. Then he asked abruptly, ** Do you 
understand their lingo ? 

** Not one word of it,^^ answered Ross readily. 

The other appeared relieved. Fve been around 
'em so much down in Arizona that I've picked up 
enough to 

Here his voice died away. He was evidently 
not thinking of what he was saying. Looking 
back at the mouth of the tunnel, he went on into 
the bunk house. 

Ross waited in lively curiosity. It was evident 
that something unusual had happened. In a few 
moments the older brother appeared accompanied 
by Kansas, the latter's hair still tousled, and his 
face yet drawn with sleep. The brother went 
directly to the tunnel, but Kansas paused beside 
Ross for a moment's discussion of Rodrigo. 

I'll come back to see him this afternoon," said 
Ross, but now I ought to get back to the office as 
soon as I can." He hesitated and then added, 
‘‘ You know there's Wort — I've got to look out for 
his nose." 

165 


ROSS GRANT 


“ I s^pose ye have/’ returned Kansas. He ran 
his fingers through his hair and scowled, adding, 
** Of course ye must. That’s yer business, no mat- 
ter on what sort of a feller the nose is — I’ll be 
back in a few minutes so ye kin go.” 

Ross waited for his return, wondering what had 
happened. It could not have been an accident as no 
one was carried out injured. The only other hap- 
pening that he could think of as likely to cause 
such suppressed excitement and secrecy was the 
discovery of ore bearing high values in gold. 
Probably, he concluded, the shift had come on a 
pocket of good ore, perhaps — here his excite- 
ment mounted — perhaps at the intersection of 
the veins. That last shot might have driven the 
tunnel into the intersection. Perhaps they had 
gone faster than Dad supposed. 

He watched the mouth of the tunnel eagerly, 
but when Kansas at last appeared it was with no 
word of information. His manner merely seemed 
constrained, and he appeared relieved when Ross 
declared that he must not stay to breakfast but get 
back to the office at once. He asked particularly 
at what hour that afternoon Doc ” would visit 
Rodrigo and then accompanied him not only to 
the ledge but on to the dump of Seven, preceding 
him wordlessly and abstractedly. When, at last, 
he stopped and turned to Ross, his abstraction fell 
1 66 








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from him a moment and he held out his hand with 
a diffident cordiality : 

“ Doc, as I told ye before, I take it in mighty 
good part what ye’ve done fer Rod.” 

Then with his hands thrust into his pockets he 
stood quietly and watched the boy out of sight. 

Ross, glancing over his shoulder, followed the 
trail slowly. It had been his intention to stop at 
Seven and interview Dad, but there was something 
in Kansas’ manner and watchfulness that pushed 
him along past Seven. It was evident that the 
owner of Eight was standing there to assure him- 
self that the boy was sincere in his declaration that 
he must be back at the office before breakfast. 

The idea also occurred to Ross that if he called 
on Dad Kansas might suspect him of reporting the 
excitement which had followed the explosion in 
Eight. There was something mysterious in that 
excitement and in the agitation it had created in 
Kansas, followed by his deep thoughtfulness. As 
Ross made his way carefully down the treacherous 
trail his imagination was circling in such a lively 
fashion around the mysterious movements of the 
Brown brothers that he forgot the part he himself 
had played the previous evening in another mys- 
terious movement. He was reminded only when 
he was climbing the side of Gales Ridge facing the 
little cabin among the pines. Then the fact was 
167 


ROSS GRANT 


borne in on him that on Gales Ridge he was in the 
midst of a camp hostile to Kansas Brown, and if 
the camp suspected that he, Ross, had circumvented 
its designs — 

Well,^' Ross shivered as he entered the office, 
“theyVe got it in their power to make it too 
hot for me here — here where I am not to take 
sides I 

Then his glance fell on the door-jamb that had 
supported the silent but powerful deputy sheriff 
the previous evening, and a wave of relief passed 
over him. Dad was his friend, and Dad^s word 
went with the Gales Ridge men. Besides, when he 
came to look the situation squarely in the face, the 
fact that his father was one of the owners of Seven, 
while it had little weight with him, would nat- 
urally make the men of Gales Ridge think that he 
opposed Kansas and favored Dad. 

He stepped inside the door just as a man whom 
he had never seen came hurriedly around the cor- 
ner of the stack of post-office boxes after seeming 
to rise from the floor. 

Ross was too startled to notice the confusion of 
the other, while the stranger was too confused to 
see the start he had given the younger man. For 
an instant they faced each other in silence. The 
stranger was the first to recover. 

‘‘ I thought I see a paper in my box,” he mum- 
168 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


bled, “ and as there wasn^t anybody here git it 
fer me I went ^round after it myself.’’ 

Well — did — did you get it? ” 

The other nodded and, brushing past the ques- 
tioner, left the shack. As he disappeared among 
the pines, Ross, who had followed him to the door, 
noticed that he carried no paper in his hand, nor 
was it bulging from the pockets of his closely fit- 
ting sweater. The boy went into the post-office 
corner and looked about. There had been only a 
couple of letters and a few papers left in the office 
the night before, and they were still there. He 
pulled at the drawer, but it was securely locked. 

The fellow was down here under the shelf,” he 
thought, stooping. 

Instantly he saw the reason for the other’s 
position in the shape of the last page of his letter 
to his father exhibiting on its face the information 
that he was bent on getting Razorback Jones into 
camp I The letter had been written on the leaves 
of a tablet, and the wind from the open half sash 
behind the stack had evidently deposited the top 
page on the floor while he was talking to Harve 
about Wort’s nose. Ross picked up the truant 
page and looked at it ruefully. If the stranger 
had read it, and of course he had, it would 
strengthen the conviction in camp that Doc 
Tenderfoot” was indeed a partisan of Dad. He 
169 


ROSS GRANT 


had been in Miners’ just forty-eight hours, and 
had unintentionally taken sides,” the very thing 
which both Dad and the doctor had advised him 
not to do I Still — and the relief of this fact more 
than overbalanced any apprehension he felt on the 
score of being considered partisan — he had con- 
veyed the impression of partisanship through 
neither carelessness nor forgetfulness. His speech 
in the Weller House had been the natural outcome 
of his ignorance, while this letter business was an 
accident for which not even his father could hold 
him accountable. 

“ The affair can’t hurt anybody except myself,” 
he concluded. “ And I can’t see how it’ll hurt me 
much except to get me disliked by the upper 
camp. Xben,” he added grimly after a moment’s 
thought, if the fellows down here in this camp 
find out that I interfered last night with their 
plans they’ll be down on me too and ” — in a sud- 
den burst of recollection — to-morrow’s the Fourth, 
when a chap may need all the friends he can get 
in case of a row.” 

The thought of the Fourth brought him to 
Sims’ promise that the doctor should return before 
the Fourth, and to-day was the third. He might 
come on the stage. Bill Travers was due with the 
mail that night. Ross felt that the heavy although 
vague load of responsibility would be lifted from 
170 


IN MINERS' CAMP 


his shoulders by the doctor’s appearance. He had 
noticed that never once had the men, even Bill 
Travers, referred to his chief as Doc ” or Scud- 
der ” or in any other terms approaching familiarity, 
and the fact had impressed him. It was an indi- 
cation of the impression which the physician’s 
personality had made on them — they might know 
too much about him to respect him, but they cer- 
tainly stood in some awe of him. 

Even if he doesn’t come back in a state to 
assume responsibility,” thought Ross, glancing 
back at the locked door, “just to have him in 
there behind lock and key would give me more 
nerve.” 

He built a fire in the heater, and going to the 
kitchen door nodded at Hank, who had just begun 
to make a move toward breakfast. He was turn- 
ing back into the office again when he heard voices 
outside and Boots entered with Harve, and be- 
tween them a sobered, weak, pain-chastened Wort. 

“ Homin’, Doc,” said Boots with a geniality that 
caused Ross to breathe more freely. “ We wa’n’t 
sure ye’d be here.” 

“Just got back,” Ross answered. ‘‘I came in 
time for breakfast,” he added as Hank came to the 
office door to see why his summons was not obeyed. 
“ I was going up to the bunk house to see Wort 
afterward. That’s why I came early.” 

171 


ROSS GRANT 


“ Uh-huh,” smiled Boots. Then, carelessly, 
“ Leave the Greaser some better ? 

Ross sat down astride the bench beside Wort 
and examined the nose. ‘‘ Much better, he re- 
sponded. 

That's good news." Boots came behind Wort 
and held his head steady. He seemed to antici- 
pate the boy's movements, making a valuable as- 
sistant. Harve stood by looking on silently. 

Suddenly Boots asked with disconcerting unex- 
pectedness, How'd ye come t' hear Rod was too 
bad off t' hike over here last night ? " 

The question took Ross completely by surprise. 
He glanced up into Boots' shrewd eyes, flushing 
and stammering. He told the truth, but his con- 
fusion did not indicate it. I met Kansas down 
in the canon and he told me — he was on his way 
up here to get me — or Dr. Scudder, rather. He 
didn't know I was alone." 

Harve gave a sarcastic grunt and blurted out, 
I seen ye go up Gales Ridge, not down. How'd 
ye git t' th' canon ? " 

Luckily Ross had regained possession of him- 
self once more. ** You saw me I " he exclaimed. 
“ I didn't meet a soul. Where were you ? " 

Boots laughed outright at this turn of the tables, 
a pleasing, amused laugh, and came to the rescue 
of the slower witted man. ** Harve was makin' 
172 


IN MINERS* CAMP 

po’try in the moonlight. He^s always moonin^ 
^round on bright nights. Come, Wort, ye^re all 
right — git up, man I 

As the trio arose to go Ross saw Boots nudge 
Wort. The latter turned and steadied himself 
against the back of the bench. He spoke unwill- 
ingly, such patches on his face as were exposed to 
view reddening. The sobered Wort was very dif- 
ferent from the weeping, groveling, drunken Wort. 

Doc, did ye see my — my boy up at Kansas' ? " 

Yes," returned Ross briefly. 

When's Kansas goin' t' send 'im back ? " pur- 
sued Boots. 

Ross made no reply. He turned to the medicine 
chest and began rearranging the bottles industri- 
ously. He saw that his movements of the previous 
night were suspected, and he wondered if Dad's 
were also. It would not increase Dad's influence 
with the men if they thought he had listened to 
an appeal to thwart their plans. 

Boots raised his voice under the impression that 
Ross had not heard and repeated the question. 

** I don't know," returned Ross shortly. Then 
he waited. So did the three. 

What — what did Kansas say ? " insisted Wort. 

He said," returned Ross instantly, that the 
moonlight last night couldn't be beaten ! Or was 
it I who said that — I've forgotten which it was I " 

173 


ROSS GRANT 


This bit of pleasantry was lost on the boy^s 
audience. He did not look around to see how it 
was taken, but he could feel the irritation. 

Ye know what Wort means I exclaimed 
Boots angrily. “ We want t’ know what he 
said about Mucker — when^s he goin^ t^ send ^im 
home ? ” 

** I know nothing more about it than you do I ” 
returned Ross with a snap in his own voice. 

’N’ what ye don’t want t’ know ye can’t find 
out, of course,” added Boots quickly, in a voice so 
disagreeable that Ross’s temper overcame his fear. 

He whirled about exclaiming, Well, if you’re 
asking me what I do know about the matter I can 
tell you that Mucker has a right to stay where he 
isn’t afraid of another blow from a brute of a 
father I And now if you’d like to get any more 
of my opinion on the matter ask some more ques- 
tions I ” 

Ross was larger physically than any one of the 
three, and with his eyes ablaze wrathfully and his 
manner an unconscious menace, he made rather 
an impressive Nemesis. Wort, with the visible 
patches of his face scarlet, guiltily stumbled out 
of the door, followed by Harve and Boots, who 
seemed overwhelmed with astonishment at the 
change from awkward, diffident boyhood to 
menacing manhood. 


174 


IN MINERS* CAMP 


Instead of following the trio to the door, Ross 
went into the post-office corner and stood beneath 
the open window to cool down/’ As his callers 
rounded the corner of the shack and came under 
the window Harve was mumbling something, the 
last words of which Ross caught : 

‘‘ father’s in Seven. I jest can’t make ’im 

out I ” 

Boots chuckled grimly. “ Wall, I guess he 
suspicioned us last night, all right, and got ahead 
of us. But we’ll see who comes out ahead this 
evening. If he’s fer Kansas, he’ll be some taken 
down when he finds out that he’s been used as a 
packhoss in spite of himself — ’n’ some spunky, too, 
jedgin’ from how he’s jest acted ! ” 

Ross strained his ears to hear more, but the 
voices were so low that he failed. He understood 
perfectly the reference to his father’s ownership 
and the effect that the men thought it ought to 
have on the son, but the rest of Boots’ speech both 
puzzled and alarmed him. In what way was his 
partisanship to be tested ? How was he to be used 
as a packhorse ? 

He spent a restless morning, in anticipation of 
some further move on the part of Boots. He wrote 
a half hearted letter of inquiry concerning Razor- 
back Jones, directed' it to the Hospital of the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, nor did he forget to put it 

175 


ROSS GRANT 


into his pocket with the other letter. Dinner time 
came and nothing had happened. Ross's spirits 
arose as he sat down to an appetizing dinner. He 
could not help being gratified by Boots' attitude 
and the fact that the men considered some maneu- 
vering necessary both to outwit and to test him. 
It gave him some of the self-confidence he 
needed. 

He had nearly finished his dinner when the 
expected happened in so unexpected a manner 
that he was for a few moments thrown off his 
guard. Boots entered the office nimbly and, pass- 
ing directly into the kitchen, called cheerfully 
and carelessly : 

“ Hello, Doc I Here's a letter to Kansas Brown 
that the foreman wanted me t' ask ye t' take over. 
I told 'im ye aimed t' go this afternoon." Then 
raising his voice he yelled at the deaf-mute, ‘‘ Hey, 
there. Hank I " 

Hank, knowing he was being greeted, nodded 
and grinned. 

Ross picked up the envelope. It was long and 
yellow and directed in a sprawling hand and 
sealed. ** Do you mean the foreman of the Gales 
Ridge tunnel sends it ? " he asked, putting it into 
his breast pocket. 

** He's the feller I and he hopes ye remembers 
easier than ye fergits I " 


176 


IN MINERS' CAMP 


All right/’ Ross responded emphatically. “ I 
can tell you right now I’ll not forget I ” 

Boots, not understanding the vehemence of the 
assertion containing that word forget,” looked 
long and keenly at the boy, but Ross’s handling 
of the letter was so unsuspicious, his very vehe- 
mence so hearty and open that the other nodded to 
himself and lingered no longer. He left the kitchen 
whistling and retraced his steps up the Gales Ridge 
trail. 

Not until he had left the table and was getting 
ready to visit Rodrigo did it occur to Ross that 
this letter represented the fulfilment of the low 
conversation between Boots and Harve. He drew 
the envelope out and looked at it, and the long 
yellow surface connected itself more and more 
firmly with Boots’ speech beneath the window. 
There was mischief in that letter, he felt certain, 
and he was to be made the bearer of it to Kansas, 
and by this means in some way his sympathies 
were to become known to the camp. What was 
inside ? 

** It’s no more from the foreman than from me,” 
he muttered aloud with growing conviction. He 
held it up to the light, but could see not one word 
of the contents. 

Sitting down behind the post-office boxes he 
rested his elbows on the shelf and took his head 
177 


ROSS GRANT 


ill his hands. Fifteen minutes later he opened 
the drawer beneath the shelf and took out a pearl 
handled paper knife belonging to the doctor. 
“ Tve never done such a thing before,” he mut- 
tered between his teeth, “ and I hate to now like 
a dog, but if Tve got to be a ‘ packhorse ^ it’s up 
to me to see what I’m packing when the camp’s 
in such a state as this I ” 

He worked slowly and carefully at the flap of 
the envelope until it yielded to his efforts without 
a break. He found also enough mucilage un- 
touched by Boots’ hasty tongue to re-seal it well. 

The contents consisted of a single sheet signed 
by a dozen of the Gales Ridge men. These sig- 
natures followed a demand on Kansas to send 
Mucker back with Doc. Or,” the message 
ended, '' we will go over and take ’im, and no fool- 
ing this time ! ” 

Fearful lest some one might come in and find 
him engaged in his unlawful but excusable occu- 
pation, the boy re-sealed the letter with painstaking 
exactness, pressing it under one of his medical 
books until the flap was firmly sealed. The result 
was satisfactory, but not until the letter was again 
in his breast pocket did he fully follow the situ- 
ation it had created into its bewildering mazes. 
That message was enough of a fuse to furnish fire- 
works for a dozen Fourths I 
178 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


Suppose he delivered the letter to Kansas. The 
temper and pride of the latter would not brook 
such a threatening demand. He would not allow 
the Mucker to go because such a compliance would 
be an admission of weakness and fear on his part. 
There would be nothing left for him to do but to 
defy the Gales Ridge men — and call on the will- 
ing upper camp for help. And Ross did not need 
to be told what this would mean with those 
twelve signatures attached to the demand. If, on 
the other hand, he should refuse now to take the 
message — and this brought him up against the per- 
sonal side and Boots' speech — he would be obliged 
to admit that he had read it and the refusal would 
place him openly on the side of Kansas Brown. 
Besides, such a course would damage himself 
without in the least lessening the danger of the 
situation, as Boots would make a packhoss " of 
some one else, and the letter would eventually 
reach Kansas. 

Of course, from first to last his thoughts had 
turned to Dad, and the constant impulse was to 
take the demand to Number Seven and let the 
owner deal with the situation. But he had called 
on Dad only last evening, and Dad had responded 
effectively — too effectively to suit the Gales Ridge 
men. Was it fair to Dad to ask him again to 
stand against his own followers ? How far would 
179 


ROSS GRANT 


they allow him to stand ? It might make him an 
endless amount of trouble, even to stopping the 
work in Seven. 

Ross went to the door and looked up at Dundee, 
where the dazzling white of its snow-crowned 
heights met the dazzling blue of the sky. But 
the beauty of the scene held no appeal to him 
now. 

If only I could stand on my Own feet in this 
matter,^* he thought longingly, ** and find a way 
out myself, I wouldn’t feel so like a fizzle here 
as I feel now.” 

He thrust his hands into his pockets, and ex- 
plored them aimlessly. In a corner of one his 
fingers closed on a small hard object. He drew it 
out and, glancing at it without interest, tossed it 
over the ledge. Then suddenly the object and its 
connection with the problem he was trying to 
solve woke him up. The fiash of an idea caused 
him to leap up and crack his heels together. Then 
he went inside the oflSce and sat down, elbows on 
knees and head on palms, while the idea took 
possession of him. It grew moment by moment. 
It was feasible, practical. He saw that he had 
every tool at hand for carrying out a plan that 
eliminated Dad completely. There only remained 
the necessity that he be skilful in the use of the 
tools. 

i8o 


CHAPTER VIII 


THE SEALED LETTER 

In the middle of the afternoon, Ross left the 
shack en route for Number Eight. As he passed 
WorPs cabin at the end of the ledge he saw it was 
inhabited. The door stood open, and Wort lay in 
his bunk opposite. Boots was moving about 
spryly frying bacon. 

“ Xo, Doc I he called, coming to the door. 
‘‘Startin^ fer Dundee, are ye?” 

Ross stopped and looked into the miserable, 
dirty hut. “Just where I’m heading,” he nodded 
with as much cheerfulness as he could muster. 

“ Got the foreman’s letter, have ye ? ” 

Ross whacked the breast of his sweater. “ Right’ 
here it is.” 

Boots nodded. “ We’ve got a foreman that’s a 
red-headed caution,” he chuckled. “Better re- 
member t’ hand that letter over t’ Kansas ’r he’ll 
land on ye with both feet I ” 

As Ross ran down the trail he threw over his 
shoulder a reply which surprised and pleased him- 
self : “ Well, if I do forget to hand it over now I 

i8i 


ROSS GRANT 


promise you I’ll make an extra trip with it so 
your ‘ red-headed caution ’ won’t get a chance to 
land on me with one foot, even 1 ” 

He reached the stage trail smiling and hoping 
that this answer would prove to be an auspicious 
beginning to his plan. He turned and looked 
down the trail lingeringly, half hoping to see 
Sims’ outfit with the doctor on the front seat re- 
turning as he had promised. But the trail was 
empty. He went on, telling himself that Scudder 
would surely come back with Bill Travers if 
Sims could not bring him. He tried to hold 
confidently to that idea, but hurried in order to 
get back to Gales Ridge before it was time for Bill 
to arrive. As assistant postmaster there were his 
mail duties that he must not forget. The word 
** forget ” grated now on a sensitive nerve. 

Instead of turning in at the Dundee trail, he 
continued up the canon until he came to the 
store, the first building in the upper camp. ' He 
was so intent on his plans that he did not look up 
until a voice he had heard before halted him in 
the doorway. The owner of the voice sat in the 
sunshine on a section of log tilted against a stump 
a few feet from the shack. 

Howdy,” said the voice. First call on Mi- 
ners’ department store, eh ? ” 

Ross turned with a start, and the second time 
182 


IN MINERS* CAMP 


that day faced the proprietor of the store, for this 
was the man who had so hastily retreated from 
the office that morning, MacFadden, the leader of 
the upper camp in the Dundee feud. The writer 
of the unfortunate letter felt an upward wave of 
dismay that flashed to the surface in a red, con- 
fused face. .^MacFadden, however, was neither red 
nor confused. He came forward nonchalantly, 
looking Ross over leisurely. Neither face nor 
manner expressed recognition, approval or dis- 
approval. While Ross was standing speechless be- 
fore the door he pushed past and entered with the 
careless invitation : 

*'Come in help yerself t’ my stock. It might 
be better, then agin, it might be worser. See 
it jedge.^^ 

Ross recovered himself and followed, saying 
hastily, I^m after candy.” 

Uh-huh I Most of the boys up here are. I 
sell a heap of the stuff. The camp don't take a 
back seat when it comes t' candy. We don't pack 
many evenin' suits up here, but Omaha can't give 
ye no better candy. What kinds, now ? '' 

Ross went inside the shack. He stepped over 
bags of meal, dodged hams swinging from the 
roof logs, crowded past piles of boxes of canned 
goods,” edged around heaps of sacks filled with 
flour, stumbled over bales of sweaters, slickers and 
183 


ROSS GRANT 


corduroy suits, finally reaching the shelves where 
stood the rows of boxes, wooden and pasteboard, 
filled with candy. 

As he made his selections he felt the merchant’s 
eyes traveling over him with more curiosity than 
animosity. In fact the merchant’s manner was so 
lazy and listless that Ross began to doubt that he 
had read the page on the floor. Probably, he de- 
cided, MacFadden was just stooping to examine it 
when he was interrupted. 

‘‘Ye must be Doc Tenderfoot?” remarked the 
merchant inquiringly, as he held out a jar of 
yellow stick candy. 

Ross nodded, stowing his purchases away in his 
pockets. 

“ Thought so,” said the man. “ Kansas Brown 
said to-day you was in the lower camp. Said ye 
was up with the sick Greaser last night.” 

Again Ross nodded. “ I’m helping Dr. Scud- 
der.” 

“ Where is he now ? ” 

“ He went down to the valley — but,” Ross has- 
tened to add this, “ he is coming back to-night.” 

“Uh-huh.” MacFadden uncovered a wooden 
box and held it out to Ross. “Old-fashioned 
lemon drops, these. Hard t’ git hold of any these 
days.” 

Ross looked down on the same round sweet 
184 



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drops with which he had fed Mucker the day 
before. He put his hand into the pocket from 
which he had drawn the one remaining candy — 
and an inspiration — a couple of hours ago, and 
said briefly : 

I'll fill up this pocket with those — half a 
pound, say." 

All right," responded the merchant, adjusting 
his scales. Then, casually, How's th' lower camp 
aimin' t' celebrate the Fourth ? " 

** I haven't heard them say," responded Ross 
retaliating with : ** And this camp? What's doing 
up here to-morrow ? " 

** Haven't heard," answered MacFadden, adding. 
Better take a little of this stick candy," tendering 
the box, but still studying the purchaser. ** Your 
boys goin' t' stay in camp ? " 

I don't know," reiterated Ross. I haven't 
heard any one say." 

Uh-huh," grunted the merchant. 

His pockets bulging with sweets, Ross began to 
climb the Dundee trail, glad that the leader of the 
upper camp had not caught him napping in his 
replies. Then questioner and questions faded as 
the weight of responsibility for the scheme he had 
undertaken pressed down on him once more, rein- 
forced by the acute interest taken in the Fourth 
by every one in camp — an idle Fourth evidently 

185 


ROSS GRANT 


for both camps. The old adage occurred to him 
forcefully : Satan finds some mischief still for 

idle hands to do.” A spasm of fear gripped his 
heart. If he should faint in the task he had 
set himself, he well knew that there were many 
hands that would find congenial occupation on 
the morrow. 

It won't do for me to fail I ” he muttered de- 
terminedly. ” I've got to buck up and go right 
through with it with a straight face.” 

He rounded a shoulder of the mountain and 
came on Dad Page standing with his back against 
a rock, his eyes shaded with one hand, gazing up 
the mountainside. This position commanded a 
view of the dump of Eight. He started when 
Ross appeared, and uttered a confused exclama- 
tion, which changed to a relieved welcome as 
soon as he recognized him. 

Doc,” he said frankly, renewing his scrutiny, 
** I'm tryin' t' see through that dump 'n' int' th' 
tunnel of Eight ! I'd mighty well like t' get in 
there 'n' see fer myself what's goin' on.” 

Ross scarcely heard the remark. The appear- 
ance of Dad just then brought back the tempta- 
tion to throw the responsibility for the camps’ 
peace again on his big shoulders. Impulsively 
the boy drew the letter half out of his pocket, 
hesitated and then asked abruptly : 

i86 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


Last night, Dad — how did you manage with 
the men ? 

The older man, cupping his hand over his eyes, 
peered up at the dump intently while he made 
answer absently : '' Oh, wall enough — fer that 
once. I went a-trampin' up the trail, and they 
thought, of course, it was Kansas. They come 
a-tumblin' out of Wort's cabin and had a little 
s'prise party when they seen it was me. Sight of 
me sort of confused 'em and took the fight out 
of 'em, I guess, but nobody did any explainin', 
and neither did I. We jest traded remarks on the 
weather and all went along t' the ofiBce. There 
they jest sot and I jest stood while you and Kansas 
come and went. Nothin' was said before ner after. 
That's all. But, Doc," here Dad turned to the boy 
soberly, ** ye better not go fer t' git into such a fix 
again. Th' air was ruther thick 'n' tight 'round 
me all the while, so t' speak. I guess th' boys 
suspicioned both you and me. They wouldn't 
stand fer many such breaks." 

Ross pushed the letter resolutely back into his 
pocket saying in a muffled tone, Exactly what I 
thought." 

Dad, unobservant of the tone and movement, 
returned again to his study of Eight. Doc," he 
began, ** this mornin' jest as the night shift was 
makin' ready t' leave Seven they heard a some- 
187 


ROSS GRANT 


thing other — that come from somewheres — they 
was too scared t' be sure about anything. They 
come tearin' out of the tunnel like all possessed. 
Said they thought they^d likely not git out. They 
was sure Til they got out t^ th^ open that th^ noise 
was our powder goin' off, with th^ mouth of th^ 
tunnel bein^ blown int^ flinders. They was so 
almighty astonished t* And theirselves out-of-doors 
with everything jest as usual that they thought 
they was dreaming but I donT believe they was.^^ 
Why, Dad 1 began Ross impulsively, this 

morning, was it? Just at ” Suddenly he 

checked himself, adding in a constrained tone : 

What could it have been ? He remembered 
that a “ shot in Eight had preceded the com- 
motion he had witnessed there at daybreak. But 
because he had witnessed it while in the pursuit of 
his professional duties he hesitated to speak of it. 

Dad pulled off his cap and smoothed back the 
thin hair above his temples. He shook his head 
slowly. “ I got everything out of the men they 
knew, and all they knew was that there was an 
explosion that filled th^ tunnel with racket, only 
it wasn’t near ’em. They couldn’t locate it. 
Wall, I went in ’s soon ’s I could git head ’r tail 
t’ their story, but there wa’n’t no smell ’r dust that 
showed an explosion near.” 

** And you haven’t any idea, any theory ” 

l88 


IN MINERS' CAMP 

Ross’s tone was embarrassed but Dad did not 
notice it. 

He replaced his cap and regarded Ross earnestly. 
** Now, Doc, there’s jest one way t’ explain it, and 
that don’t explain, because I can’t see why he’d do 
such a fool thing ! ” 

** Well ? ” 

“ The only thing I can figger on is that Kansas 
is a-breakin’ through inf our tunnel.” 

'‘Breaking into Seven I” Ross ejaculated. “ What 
for? ” 

“ That’s jest it I ” Dad rejoined. “ What ’ud he 
do such a fool thing fer ? But if he is ” — here 
Dad’s face darkened — “ ye can depend on it he’s 
got some scheme up his sleeve. He’s a deep one I ” 
bitterly. 

Again Ross opened his lips, and again closed 
them. That bitterness in Dad’s tone closed them. 
He knew nothing that would add to Dad’s infor- 
mation and telling that he had witnessed the ex- 
citement at Eight that morning would simply fan 
the flame of Dad’s resentment. There were enough 
flames being fanned now in camp. Ross felt of 
the letter in his breast pocket and merely asked : 

“ How far would he have to go out of his way 
to break in ? ” 

“ Wall, I reckon the ends of our tunnels is as 
much as a quarter of a mile apart.” 

189 


ROSS GRANT 


Dad/^ exclaimed Ross after a pause, Kansas 
is a * deep one ^ I don't believe he'd take time to 
drive a branch tunnel a quarter of a mile to break 
into Seven, and," wonderingly, “ what earthly 
object would he have in breaking in?" 

That's what I can't see myself, as I told ye," 
Dad afi&rmed. I can't see what good it 'ud do 
him. If he's spoilin' fer a fight he can have one 
from th' mouth of th' tunnel without drivin' one 
a quarter of a mile fer th' sake of gittin' in. But 
— Doc, that explosion come from some'ers, and 
Eight's th' only place it could come from. And 
s' long 's we didn't hear it outside it must 'a' been 
in th' tunnel of Eight." 

Did any of them hear an explosion from there 
before ? " 

Nope. Of course we know when Eight set off 
a shot — we're near enough together fer that, but it's 
no sech racket as my men heard this morning." 

Well, if he was breaking in, Dad, wouldn't you 
keep hearing the shots louder and louder as each 
was put ? " 

Dad nodded. Yes, but as I figger it out, this 
one wa'n't really as near as th' men think. In th' 
tunnel, everything sounds louder and all twisted. 
I'm thinkin' this was th' first, and there'll be 
others." 

** Have you heard any more of ’em ? " 

190 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


*‘Nope, not a sound. That^s botherin^ me now. 
I’ve been in there most of the day, and I’ve lis- 
tened all th’ way along the timbers — ye know we 
have t’ timber most all th’ way — and I can’t hear 
a sound.” 

“ Well, Dad, that is sort of mysterious,” ex- 
claimed Ross after a pause, but there’s one thing 
I believe,” the boy spoke earnestly, ” and that is 
that Kansas isn’t spoiling for a fight or a fuss any 
more than you are, and that he’s as anxious to 
have the camps keep out of the mix-up. Dad, I 
can’t help thinking that Kansas is 5g^6are.” 

Dad’s kind face took on an unpleasant expres- 
sion. “ Let ’im abide by th’ stakes around Seven 
then, and give up th’ intersection.” 

“ But, Dad,” Ross urged, he thinks he’s right, 
of course, same as you do, and ” 

A troubled expression replaced the displeasure 
in Dad’s face. He continued abruptly down the 
trail, calling over his shoulder : Wall, Doc, keep 
on thinkin’ that ’r anything else ’bout ’im only so 
ye keep out of the mess.” 

Ross stood watching him out of sight. Yes,” 
he muttered aloud, I’m keeping out of the mess 
with a vengeance I ” 

Then he continued up the trail. 

He thought again of the explosion that had 
been heard in Seven. It was decidedly queer, that 
191 


ROSS GRANT 


explosion. Yet he did not, for a moment, believe 
that Kansas was driving into Seven. He knew 
from the actions of the men that whatever had oc- 
curred in Eight that morning had come as a sur- 
prise to Kansas Brown's brother and his shift of 
Mexicans. He did not have long to puzzle over 
the situation, however, as Mucker met him at the 
foot of the ledge. It was evident that the boy had 
been patiently awaiting him for some time — or 
awaiting the candy, rather. But Ross’s heart 
bounded when he saw the vacant face, lighted now 
with faint eagerness, peering over a rock where the 
trail bent around the ledge. Here was his oppor- 
tunity. 

Hello, Mucker ! ” he yelled. He drew a large 
stick of candy from his pocket and held it up. 
The Mucker came hurrying and stumbling forward 
to receive it. It was evident he had now no fear 
that Ross would git him.” 

“ How's your hand ? ” Ross asked, picking it up 
and looking at the soiled bandage. He pressed on 
the palm and Mucker, with a cry, wrenched it 
away. 

His ready tears started with the pain of the pres- 
sure, but they did not interfere with the action of 
his jaws. In a moment the pain was forgotten 
and his hand was held out for more candy. 

Not much 1 ” said Ross firmly. No more 
192 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


until we get over on Gales Ridge, you and I. If 
you^ll go home with me — despite himself his 
voice became husky with anxiety — you can have 
all of this/' From pocket after pocket he pulled 
the sweets and held them up on exhibition out of 
Mucker’s reach. “ Will you go ? ” 

Mucker backed away whimpering. He^ll git 
me I ” Then he added as an afterthought, “ ’N’ 
I’m goin’ t’ help Kansas, too. I can’t go.” But 
the denial was faint as the boy eyed the reward for 
his going. 

No, he won’t,” Ross declared, hearing only the 
first clause. For emphasis he grasped Mucker’s 
arm firmly. Do you hear. Mucker ? Your father 
will not touch you. I will keep you with me right 
in my room. Do you understand ? He shall not 
touch you, and you can have all this candy.” 

The boy looked wistfully at the pockets, but 
backed away with the tears running down his 
cheeks. ‘‘ I won’t be here t’ help Kansas, and 

he'll make me muck, and my hand ” 

'' No, he won’t,” promised Ross emphatically. 

You listen to me. If you’ll go back with me I’ll 
fix your hand so it won’t hurt, and you can have 
all of this candy, and stay with me, and you 
needn’t muck until your hand is well. Will you 
come ? ” 

Over and over Ross repeated this, the boy yield- 
193 


ROSS GRANT 


ing gradually until his last objection was not only 
overcome, but he was willing to go, and then eager. 
But it was with many misgivings that Ross ac- 
companied him up the trail to Eight. Even if 
Mucker should remain constant to his promises, 
what would Kansas say ? 

This plan of using candy for a bait to get the 
half-wit to go back to Gales Ridge voluntarily had 
been the idea suggested by the sight of the lone 
lemon drop Ross had found in his pocket as he 
was standing on the ledge. 

As he approached the top of the dump he heard 
the sound of axes away to the left. The choppers 
were out of sight, and above the mouth of the tun- 
nel, where the forest of spruce thinned out as it 
approached timber line. 

“ What are the men doing. Mucker ? asked 
Ross. 

TimberinV^ replied the boy. “ All of ’em tim- 
berin’ to-day — chop, chop, chop.” With the imi- 
tativeness of a child he handled an imaginary axe 
in action. 

“Not all of the men. Mucker?” asked Ross. 
“ Part of them are working in the tunnel, aren’t 
they?” 

“ Nope,” cried the Mucker, and again he wielded 
his imaginary axe. “ Not all day.” 

Ross gave a short whistle. Dad had been lis- 
194 


IN MINERS’ CAMP 


teriing all day in the tunnel of Seven for addi- 
tional sounds from Eight, and there had been no 
sound. Of course not, if no one had been at work 
in Eight I Ross glanced into the dark mouth of 
the tunnel as he passed it. In the doorway of the 
eating shack sat the cook, a Mexican, rolling a 
cigarette, and observing him out of sleepy eyes. 
The place was singularly quiet. The newcomer 
crossed the dump and entered the bunk house. 
The bunks occupied at night by the day shift were 
now filled by the night shift and their foreman, 
Kansas’ brother Jean. 

The latter occupied Kansas’ bunk, and roused 
himself at once when Ross appeared. Ross, look- 
ing about for Kansas, suddenly bethought him 
that Kansas was the head of the day shift and 
consequently was out now cutting and trimming 
trees for the timbering ” in the tunnel. He 
wouldn’t see Kansas, with whom he had thought 
he would have to deal, and the brother was an 
unknown quantity to him and he to the brother. 

Feeling balked at every turn Ross looked the 
sick man over silently, whispered some directions 
to Brown, left some tablets with him and then mo- 
tioned to him to come out of the bunk house, where 
they could speak without disturbing the sleepers. 
Mucker followed close on Ross’s heels, his gaze 
never wandering far from the candy-filled pockets. 

195 


ROSS GRANT 


Once outside the bunk house Rosses courage fal- 
tered. Brownes attitude toward him was decidedly 
hostile. The man resembled his younger brother, 
except in forcefulness. He stood in his flannel 
shirt, his corduroy trousers and socks, just as he 
had been sleeping. His hair was rufided and his 
eyes swollen with sleep. He stuffed his hands 
into his pockets and scowled at Ross without a 
word, and it instantly occurred to the latter that 
here was the beginning of the harmful results 
which would follow MacFadden's sight of the let- 
ter to the older Grant. 

“ Say,” Ross burst out awkwardly, “ about 
Mucker here — I guess I better take him home with 
me, hadnT I ? ” 

It wasnT in the least what he had intended to say. 
He had intended to get at the matter with some 
tact and diplomacy. He had rehearsed what he 
was going to say as he bent over Rodrigo, but 
when he faced that scowl all he could think of 
was the simple proposition stripped of all tact. 
He bit his lips, angry at his own stupidity but, to 
his surprise, the man's face lit with a flash of 
heartfelt relief. He never stopped, as Ross ex- 
pected, to question whether or no the boy would 
receive kind treatment on Gales Ridge, but the 
words of his assent tumbled over each other in his 
eagerness : 


196 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


“ The Mucker ? Home with ye ? Say, that^s 
the place fer him ! Take him right along I 

He withdrew his hands from his pockets and 
stepped forward. His manner fairly pushed the 
two away from Eight. He was anxious for them 
to be gone. Ross covered his surprise as well as 
he could. He had failed to consider the fact be- 
fore that the Browns were not harboring the boy 
because they wanted to, but because he had fled to 
Kansas as a refuge, and Kansas had not the heart 
to turn him away even though the harboring 
meant personal danger to himself. 

Ross wondered that he had not before considered 
the matter strictly from Kansas’ standpoint. He 
laid his hand lightly on the letter beneath the 
breast of his sweater, and then pulled a long stick 
of pink and white candy from his pocket and held 
it out to the already hesitating Mucker with a 
Come on, then, if you want more of this.” 

The boy’s hesitation disappeared, and he fol- 
lowed Ross across the dump. As they reached 
the eating house, the latter called over his 
shoulder : 

Tell your brother I’ll see to it that Mucker is 
treated right ; and I’ll fix up his hand, too, before 
I let him go back to work.” 

'' All right. Doc, I’ll tell ’im,” called Brown, re- 
lief ringing in his tone. 

197 


ROSS GRANT 


There was also relief in Rosses heart. It 
mounted to exultation as he descended the trail. 
He had not thought clearly beyond the point of 
persuading Mucker to return with him. The entire 
plan hinged on that. In his pocket was the letter, 
still sealed, and behind him came the boy willingly. 

“ I have won,” exulted Ross. Then, after a 
moment he added aloud with a touch of uneasi- 
ness, Almost.” 

He glanced across the canon at the side of Gales 
Ridge, and, for the first time, faced in detail the 
end of his scheme. For the first time he saw the 
faces of the men who had signed that letter ; now 
he began to anticipate their anger at being baffled 
a second time. He cleared his throat. It became 
husky as the realization grew that he was ap- 
proaching one of the most difficult situations he 
had ever encountered, one that called for the ex- 
ercise of skill in conveying an impression in man- 
ner as well as words, a skill which he knew he did 
not possess. 

But IVe got to make good,” he kept telling 
himself desperately, I^ve got to. Too much de- 
pends on it.” ' 

What he intended to do seemed so simple when 
he had thought of it vaguely with more immediate 
duties looming between it and him. Now, the 
anticipation weakened his knees, 

198 


IN MINERS' CAMP 


“ I never was good at fooling people/^ he groaned. 

But this time I must — I must ! ” 

He kept insisting on this, but it did not 
strengthen his knees. 

‘‘ All I have to do is to act naturally, he mut- 
tered aloud. “ Everything I’ve got to do is to tell 
the truth — part of it — and it’s all plausible.” 

To assure himself, he took the letter out and 
looked carefully at the flap of the envelope. Only 
the closest scrutiny showed that it had been tam- 
pered with. But suppose Boots should give it that 
kind of scrutiny ? Boots appeared to be as keen 
as he was spry. With a gone ” feeling in the 
pit of his stomach, he replaced the letter and 
looked at Mucker’s bandaged hand. That would 
bear the closest scrutiny. 

Finally the knowledge that he was obliged to go 
through with the undertaking steadied him to a 
point where he could plan coherently. He felt it was 
best not to reach the office until it was fllled with the 
Gales Eidge men waiting for the arrival of the stage. 
Ho knew that Boots would be present, as many of 
the signers of that letter as were able to gather would 
be there eager to see the result of their message. He 
drew out his watch and found it was flve o’clock. 
There were two hours yet to waste. He had not 
expected that his stay on Dundee would be so short 
— and so comfortable. He descended to the canon 
199 


ROSS GRANT 


slowly, bent with dogged determination on getting 
a firm hold on himself. He talked to Mucker, 
helping him down the difiicult places as he would 
have helped a child, soothing his fears and win- 
ning his confidence. 

At the foot of the trail he again consulted his 
watch. It was six. He drew Mucker one side 
and by a judicious feeding from his pockets kept 
him contented for an hour while they sat on a 
rock. 

But the strain of idle waiting threatened to 
destroy the self-control which Ross’s will power 
had induced, and if Dad Page had appeared the 
boy would have promptly thrown the whole mat- 
ter into his hands. But Dad did not appear, and 
presently Ross, taking a fresh grip on his courage, 
turned resolutely to Mucker’s head for diversion. 
The younger boy sat at his feet, chewing candy 
noisily. The left side of his head was turned 
toward Ross and the embryo surgeon, speaking 
soothingly to him, examined that curiously dented 
side. Slowly his fingers felt their way over the 
dent and around its edges among the whitened 
hair. Then he whistled. 

“ I’d like to have Dr. Gaynor get hold of your 
head. Mucker,” he exclaimed finally. I won- 
der if Scudder has ever examined it. Has he. 
Mucker ? ” 


200 


IN MINERS* CAMP 


The boy looked up uncomprehendingly, and 
asked for more candy. 

Has Dr. Scudder ever had his hands on your 
head ? asked Ross, choosing simple words. 

“ Nope,^^ said Mucker, shaking his head violently. 
“ Nobody but him ever hit me,” misunderstanding 
the question. 

Ross did not correct his impression, but asked, 
“ Do you mean your father hit you once ? ” 

Mucker nodded. Yep. Threw a stick of wood 
at me when he was actin^ queer — like he is now,” 
the boy added. Then he held his hand at the 
height of a child of six or seven saying, I was so 
high. It hurt 'n' hurt.” 

“ I don^t doubt it ! ” agreed Ross, his fingers in 
the depression in the boy^s head. 

I want t^ stay with Kansas,” Mucker broke 
out vehemently, “ fer Tm goin^ t^ do something I 
am I Somethin^ fer Kansas I ” 

Ross nodded absently. Then drawing a long 
breath, he started on the last stage of his journey 
down the canon and up the side of Gales Ridge. 
Half-way up he heard far below, in the clear air, 
the crack of Bill Travers' whip and the sound of 
his stentorian voice. The stage was coming, far 
down the canon. Ross hurried, and close on his 
heels trod Mucker, whimpering with fear now that 
they were approaching the cabin among the pines. 

201 


ROSS GRANT 


Never mind, Mucker,'^ soothed Ross. Re- 
member that you are going to stay with me as 
long as your father continues to act ‘ queer.' 
Gome on." 

He took the boy's hand and led him past the 
cabin toward Dr. Scudder's shack. The silence 
reigning in the office did not deceive him. He 
heard no voice raised, but he was prepared for what 
he saw — a room filled with the Gales Ridge men. 
They occupied the benches, the trunk, the counter 
which supported the post-office boxes. They 
leaned against the walls and even sat cross-legged 
on the fioor. And every man had his eyes fixed 
eagerly and triumphantly on Doc Tenderfoot 
bringing Mucker home. 

Ross, at the door, dropped Mucker's hand, and 
pushing the boy ahead of him to prevent his 
breaking away at sight of his father, who sat be- 
hind the stove, entered the smoke-filled office. 

Good-evening," he greeted the men, and was 
surprised and encouraged to find his voice sounded 
natural. 

He guided Mucker to the kitchen door and 
yelled at Hank for the benefit of the crowd, 
'' Here, Hank, fill this boy up right off. He's 
starved, and so am I." 

Hank watched Ross's finger pointing at his own 
mouth and Mucker's and went about supper with 
202 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 

alacrity. Mucker stayed in the kitchen hiding be- 
hind the door to avoid his father^s eyes. 

** Kerens a piece of candy, Mucker,^’ Ross said, 
also for the benefit of their audience, ** and after 
supper Vll dress your hand. You can get along 
with it for another hour, I think, comfortably, al- 
though it is a pretty bad hand.'' 

Again he was delighted to find his tone casual, 
natural, even careless. He made his way among 
the waiting, silent men to the stove and held his 
hands out to the warmth. ** Great old country 
this!" he exclaimed. July is the name of the 
month, but October is the feel of it 1 " 

He directed his remark where every one was 
now expectantly gazing — at Boots. Boots stood 
where Dad had stood the previous night, leaning 
against the door-jamb, endeavoring to hide his 
elation under an air of nonchalance. He was 
smoking a short pipe and drew at it twice before 
removing it from his mouth to answer Ross. Then 
with a chuckle and a wink at the room in general : 

I guess the month feels as hot right now as an 
eastern July to some folks, all right — eh, boys ? " 
The boys made satisfactory response. The ques- 
tion set free their triumphant hilarity. They 
laughed. They whacked each other on the back 
and smote their own knees in an uproar befitting 
victors. They yelled into each other's ears that 
203 


ROSS GRANT 


the upper camp was afraid of 'em, and that it 'ud 
have to eat its own words — they'd see to that I 
Wait till to-morrow I 

Ross faltered. He looked about. As soon as he 
could be heard he asked : What's all this about ? 
What do you mean ? " 

Every one looked again at Boots. He stuffed 
his pipe full of tobacco, crammed it down with a 
blunt finger and replied in a blunter voice : Wall, 
Doc, I guess ye know well enough what we mean 
by this time, without askin'." Then abruptly, 
“ Did Kansas send us any word along with 
Mucker? " 

Kansas I " cried Ross, while his heart beat like 
a drum in his ears. Kansas I Jiminy Crickets, 
here's that letter I I never set eyes on Kansas I " 

He tore open the breast of his sweater and held 
out the letter with well feigned dismay. It was a 
genuine movement of helplessness that really ac- 
curately portrayed his state of mind, but the real 
cause was not suspected by his audience. About 
him swelled a murmur of astonishment, chagrin, 
inquiry. The letter was snatched from his hand 
and passed to Boots before the latter could reach 
him. 

Boots' pipe fell to the floor as he seized the letter 
face up and with a quick turn of the wrist brought 
the flap into view — the securely sealed flap. Then 
204 


IN MINERS' CAMP 


he stared at Ross with a lengthening face and 
asked sharply : 

“ D’ye mean that ye never give this letter t’ 
Kansas ? ” 

“ No,” confessed Ross, ** I didn’t.” He pulled 
off his cap and ran his fingers through his hair. 
His fingers trembled, but his voice did not. You 
see, it was this way : When I got over there I 
found Mucker’s hand needed dressing, and I knew 
I could dress it better here in the office — and so I 
was busy coaxing him to come back with me — and 
Kansas was away with the day shift getting tim- 
bers, and so ” 

Ross stopped, replaced his cap and held out his 
hand. “ Remember what I said before I went, 
don’t you ? That if I brought the letter back I’d 
go over on purpose with it. I’ll go now.” 

A deep silence had settled over the room, but it 
was no longer vibrant with suppressed triumph. 
Boots, to whom every one was looking, hesitated 
an instant, ignored Ross’s outstretched hand, and 
opening the stove door, leaned over, and threw the 
letter in. When he straightened he did not look 
up. He spoke mumblingly : 

No matter now about it. I happen to know 
what — what the foreman wanted, and it’s — well, 
it’s fixed up now. No use of yer taking the letter 
now.” 


205 


ROSS GRANT 


Ross nodded, glad that no oral reply was neces- 
sary. He had made good ” by not delivering the 
letter, and yet by fulfilling himself the very de- 
mand made by the letter. With Mucker on Gales 
Ridge and with Kansas ignorant of the insult 
framed by the twelve signers with the express pur- 
pose of arousing him to fight, the belligerent 
scheme fell through. Then, too, the signers were 
left in ignorance of the sympathies of Doc 
Tenderfoot as he, too, was supposedly ignorant 
of the firebrand which he had forgotten to deliver. 
The proof of his ignorance lay in his ready offer 
to take the letter back to Kansas and in the fact 
that he had handed it over to Boots apparently 
sealed as at first. Then, too, Mucker's hand bore 
evidence to the reason why its owner was brought 
back by the embryo surgeon. 

Boots kicked his broken pipe out-of-doora. and 
followed it. His very back showed his chagrin. 
He stopped outside the door and looked down at 
the stage, which was approaching the foot of the 
trail. The group inside began to fall apart. One 
or two went into the kitchen to look at Mucker's 
hand. Others joined the disconcerted Boots and 
spoke of the prospects of fine weather for the 
Fourth. 

Suddenly Harve, standing in the doorway, re- 
marked, ** There comes Bill, and he hain't got nary 
206 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


a passenger. That means that he’s had room t’ 
pack us up some refreshment fer the Fourth I ” 

Ross heard only the first of the remark. He 
was dressing Mucker’s hand and could not leave, 
but he called out insistently, “ See here, Harve, he 
must have a passenger — isn’t Dr. Scudder in the 
stage ? ” 

“ No, he ain’t,” returned Harve shortly. “ Ain’t 
no one but Bill.” 

Five minutes later the tramping of many feet 
on the ledge proclaimed the arrival of Bill, sur- 
rounded by the men who had gone to meet him, 
and Bill was explaining loudly : 

Say, fellers I What d’ye think is a-goin’ on in 
Meeteetse to-morrer? ” He waited, looking about 
expectantly. 

No one replied. Meeteetse, being forty miles 
away, held no prospect of immediate interest. 

Bill raised an impressive forefinger. ‘‘ Seein’ ye 
ain’t good at guessin’ I’ll tell ye. There’s a circus 
in Meeteetse to-morrer. ’N’ — now listen, boys, 
’n’ then hustle inf yer glad rags I Dr. Scudder 
’n’ Sims is a-treatin’ th’ Gales Ridge outfit f a 
Fourth in Meeteetse.” 

A stir of interest aroused the roomful from 
the depression caused by their late defeat. They 
crowded closer to Bill. 

Right now Sims’ freightin’ wagins is on the 
207 


ROSS GRANT 


road t’ fetch ye. They’ll heave in sight now any 
minit and ye’re all t’ pile in and be packed down 
t’ Meeteetse t’ celebrate — and Sims says tell ye the 
treat is on him and the doctor I ” 


208 


CHAPTER IX 


A SAFE FOURTH 

Bill’s message caused a pleasant agitation be- 
hind the post-office boxes as well as in front. 
Ross found himself stamping the date of arrival 
not only on the letters but the newspapers as well. 
Mahomet, he told himself with a grin, not being 
ready to come to the mountain, was arranging for 
the mountain to go to him I Or, literally, beyond 
him, as Sims’ ranch lay near the foot of the moun- 
tains thirty miles from Meeteetse. 

Sims and his guest were keeping their promise 
to Doc Tenderfoot ” in a negative way, but, as 
he saw, a more effective way than for the doctor 
to return. For, by taking one entire faction out 
of Miners’ for the Fourth, all danger of a fight 
would be averted. Evidently his protests against 
being obliged to assume the doctor’s responsibility 
had sunk in more deeply than he had hoped for. 

Sims’ invitation galvanized the Gales Ridge 
men into immediate action. There was more in- 
terest expressed in safety razors and clean shirts 
than in the few letters, papers and magazines 
209 


ROSS GRANT 


that Ross was laboriously sorting and distribu- 
ting. The letter to Kansas Brown was forgotten 
in the promised excitement of a circus and dance 
in Meeteetse. 

Within fifteen minutes the office was deserted. 
Fifteen more and Ross sat down to a hot supper, 
feeling that he was on the eve of a Fourth 
safe and sane to an extent that would astonish 
Uncle Fred and Aunt Anne, whose understanding 
of the term was the absence of firecrackers in the 
hands of the village children. His perplexities 
seemed dissolved, with Mucker gobbling his food 
contentedly opposite and the camp getting ready 
to celebrate away from home, forty miles away. 

‘‘The further the better,” Ross told himself, 
stretching his legs out under the table and patting 
his stomach with a grin at Hank, who fed his 
plate with hot fiapjacks. 

From the open window in front of him he could 
see the sunlit side of old Dundee. The water was 
racing in miniature torrents down its sides as the 
heat drove the snow-banks further up toward the 
permanent snow line. Below, in the canon, the 
roar of Wood River was borne aloft as it rushed 
past bank full. It was choked with ice, yet to- 
morrow was the Fourth of July I Ross filled his 
lungs with the bracing air which came in at the 
opened sash and attacked another piece of ham. 

210 


IN MINERS* CAMP 


Suddenly he leaned forward, his head out of the 
window, and looked up the canon. Now I won- 
der,’' he ejaculated to Mucker, “ whether the upper 
camp won’t go to Meeteetse too, when it finds out 
what the attractions there are.” 

Mucker answered only by a demand for more 
coffee, while Ross continued more to himself than 
the boy : 

Well, if they do go and get into a fight down 
there I’ll be out of it, anyway.” But he kept 
looking anxiously up the quiet canon. The stage 
driver put up at the upper camp and would, of 
course, carry the news of the celebration at Mee- 
teetse and the fact that the Gales Ridge outfit 
were going. 

Before the watcher had finished supper Sims’ 
two freighter outfits were standing in the wagon 
trail waiting for the men of the lower camp, and 
Ross, followed by Mucker, went out on the ledge 
to see them depart. As he stood there Boots came 
hurrying around the corner of Wort’s shack and 
approached with a friendly and confidential grin, 
a very different expression from the one Ross had 
encountered when he handed over the letter ad- 
dressed to Kansas a few hours earlier. The 
change in expression surprised him, but Boots’ 
first remark surprised him still more. 

Say, Doc,” he called eagerly, the wagons are 

2II 


ROSS GRANT 


waiting but it won’t hurt ’em t’ wait some more 
while ye git ready.” 

What ? ” asked Ross. ” Me — get ready for 
what?” 

” The boys sent me down t’ ask ye would ye go 
with us below ? ” 

” Why, thank you — and them,” stammered Ross. 
“ But — why, no, I couldn’t.” 

Ye can leave Mucker with Hank all right,” 
Boots urged cordially, ’n’ git out ’n’ have a little 
fun.” 

Ross thanked him again, but declined. ‘‘ I was 
up all last night, you know,” he reminded him, 
and a bunk is going to suit me better to-night 
than a wagon seat.” 

” Ye could lay out in th' wagon bottom,” 
suggested Boots affably, ” and git in a few cat- 
naps.” 

With Dr. Scudder gone,” Ross objected, “ I 
couldn’t leave, anyway. My place is here.” Then 
as Boots still waited expectantly, he added with 
finality, ” No, I can’t possibly go. I’ve got a pa- 
tient here, you know, the Mexican and ” He 

drew Mucker around to his side and touched the 
bandaged hand. 

Boots smoothed his recently shaved cheeks and 
winked. All right, Doc. Guess ye know what 
ye’re up to, stayin’ here, but — our boys are sorry 
212 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


the upper camp’s caught on. We’ve jest heard 
ourselves.” 

Heard what? ” demanded Ross. ‘‘ What d’ye 
mean ? ” 

Boots rubbed his chin tenderly. “ I told th’ 
boys I bet ye didn’t know th’ upper camp had got 
tiold of it, but how could they when ye’ve kept 
it s’ tight from us that we’ve sort of suspected ye 
right along ’til now ! ” 

“ What are you talking about ? ” Ross insisted, 
bewildered. 

Boots winked again slyly : Why, that ye come 
here a-purpose t’ settle this fuss on Dundee ” 

*'What!'^ exploded Ross. I settle the fuss? 
Come on purpose I Did you hear that from the 
upper camp ? ” 

Boots nodded. ‘‘ Yep. Sorry they’ve got ont’ it 
— that ’n’ yer sendin’ fer Razorback Jones t’ come 
here and help us run Kansas t’ where he belongs. 
They say yer father ’n’ his money is behind ye.” 

** My father doesn’t know anything about the 
matter I ” cried Ross, ** and neither did I when I 
came here ! ” 

Boots began to pare his finger nails industri- 
ously with his jack-knife. His amused chuckle 
told Ross that he did not believe the denial. 

“ What else have you heard ? ” 

Boots finished a thumb nail and looked at it 
213 


ROSS GRANT 


critically. “ That ye stayed last night with Rod so 
ye’d have a good chance to spy out Eight. That’s 
what Mac is tellin’.” 

Ross choked in anger. “ There’s not a word of 
truth in it I ” he fairly shouted. I went over to 
Eight as Dr. Scudder’s assistant, and not to find 
out anything about the Browns’ business.” 

Boots grinned sympathetically. I don’t blame 
ye, Doc, fer gittin’ mad about it. Of course it sort 
of holds up a little business such as ye have in 
hand t’ have it peddled ’round the camp, but,” 
suggestively, ** ye know th’ Gales Ridge outfit is 
back of ye.” 

This calm and matter-of-fact assumption as to 
the cause of his wrath took Ross’s breath away. 
He stammered, ** I— why, I ” and stopped. 

“ Mac don’t say how he got ont’ all this,” Boots 
went on, closing his knife with a snap. ** But if 
there’s anything t’ find out Mac’s bound t’ know 
it. He oughter be a detective, he had.” 

Before Ross could reply, a voice from the bunk 
house above them summoned Boots, and the lat- 
ter obeyed the summons spryly, calling over his 
shoulder : 

** S’ long. Doc. Remember if ye need us we’re 
all here.” 

He left Ross still sputtering and mopping a red, 
wet face. 


214 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


“ Such a story I ” he burst out to the uncompre- 
hending Mucker. '' Spy on Eight I Run Kansas 
off Dundee. The liar 1 I could punch his head 
for him I 

He was glad, however, that his anger and sur- 
prise had not betrayed him into indiscreet speech 
about the action of MacFadden. The Gales Ridge 
outfit were uncomfortably ready to back any move 
against any one in the upper camp. If they could 
not get at Kansas directly, his chief supporter, 
MacFadden, would do as well. The cooler Ross 
became, the more clearly he saw that it was well 
his denial had not been believed. So long as the 
lower camp believed MacFadden was telling the 
truth there was no excuse for punishing him I 
I’m glad enough that his seeing that page was 
not due to my carelessness,” Ross thought finally 
when he was able to think coolly again. 

He realized that the merchant, with a kernel of 
truth to water, had caused it to spring into a crop 
of lies, and the trouble with them was they would 
be difficult to refute, so neatly did they fit the 
circumstances. 

** The more I’m told to keep out of this squab- 
ble the deeper in I wade — or am pushed, rather,” 
he muttered. 

Just then the Gales Ridge men went trooping 
down the trail, waving and shouting at the boy on 

215 


ROSS GRANT 


the ledge, jubilantly confident that he was not only 
on their side but bent on bringing their desires to 
pass. Their comradery was gratifying, despite the 
false assumption it was based on, and Ross watched 
the loaded wagons depart, glad they were filled 
with his friends. 

Bringing a chair out on the ledge, he sat down, 
letter pad in hand, to scribble a note to Dr. Lam- 
bert, and at the same time watch the canon for 
signs of the upper camp men. He had not long 
to wait. They came rattling down the canon in 
the heavy four-horse wagon belonging to the min- 
ing company. They were laughing and shouting 
as gayly as though they had not been anticipating 
spending a very different Fourth only a few hours 
before. After them, straggling along the trail, 
came the Mexicans who worked in Eight, and the 
younger men belonging to the upper camp and to 
Dad Pagers outfit, for whom there was no room in 
the wagon. But neither Dad Page nor the Browns 
appeared. They were evidently up on Dundee 
guarding Seven and Eight. 

Ross watched the travelers out of sight and then, 
uncapping his fountain pen, threw one knee over 
the other and propping the pad against it pro- 
ceeded to scrawl a letter to the intern. 

IPs a shame, he wrote, that Kansas and Dad 
are at loggerheads. They^re both crackerjacks of 
216 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


fellows and ought to be working together instead of 
against each other. I don^t know who’ll come out 
ahead, nor whether Razorback can untangle things, 
but I think both Dad and Kansas want the thing 
settled. I know Dad does, and I can guess Kansas 
does too, so unearth this Razorback and telegraph 
me his address sooner than at once I I’ve written 
to the hospital, but you can speed things up 
quicker, probably. I don’t want to hang out here 
in the midst of all this uncertainty and all the 
stories this MacFadden is circulating ” 

These words started Ross on a new train of 
thought, and brought his pen to a standstill. If 
the lower camp had heard all that trash, of course 
the men on Dundee had, also. Dad must be won- 
dering why he, Ross, had not heeded good advice 
and kept his mouth shut about Razorback ! It 
would be easy enough to satisfy Dad in the matter, 
but what about Kansas ? It occurred to him again 
that the story dovetailed in very well with the few 
facts that were known in camp — no one would see 
that more quickly than Kansas. Ross recalled the 
other’s surprise at his close attention to the Mex- 
ican, at his willingness to remain all night beside 
the sick man. Now, when Kansas heard MacFad- 
den’s version of why he was willing to re- 
main — 

The boy rose abruptly and stood on the edge of 
217 


ROSS GRANT 


the ledge. His liking for Kansas was so genuine 
that he shrank from having him believe such a 
misrepresentation. He stood thinking until a 
chilling breeze swept down from the snow-fields. 
Then he went inside followed by a shivering, 
whimpering Mucker. 

Setting the younger boy the task of keeping up 
the fire, Ross went behind the post boxes to finish 
the task, suddenly grown so distasteful, of putting 
Lambert on the trail of Razorback. He dropped 
on the bench and, elbow on shelf and head on 
hand, thought. A pile of mail, letters, magazines 
and papers lay in front of him. He absently 
turned them over. They were all addressed to Dr. 
Scudder. There was one letter evidently directed 
by a child. Ross picked it up. Zigzagging across 
the envelope in laborious print ran the unique ad- 
dress, My Papa Scudder, Minners, Wyoming 
Camp.’^ 

Ross burst out laughing, the first genuine spark 
of amusement he had felt since he arrived in 
Miners’ Camp. Some postal clerk had, down in 
one corner, put the Camp ” in its correct place 
in the address, and the letter had arrived without 
delay from Boston. Ross propped it up against 
the rest of the doctor’s mail, his amusement giving 
way to interest. He had not thought, previously, 
anything about the doctor’s family. The camp 
218 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


was no place for women and children and he had 
not considered his chief as “ My Papa Scudder.'^ 
Then the vision of that object on Scudder^s table 
flashed into his mind. ** I guess you better stay 
right along in Boston/' he said to the letter. 
“ You’ll be better off there." 

He had just succeeded in fastening his attention 
again on his own letter when Mucker slammed the 
door of the stove, raced to the outer door and 
shrilled, Here comes Kansas I " 

'Lo, Mucker," returned Kansas’ pleasant voice. 

Got all the candy ye want? " 

Mucker at once turned to Ross with the demand 
for more. Interest in fire-tending had temporarily 
effaced his memory of sweets. Ross gave him a 
stick of peppermint flavor, telling him to make it 
go a long way, as it would be the last for that 
night. He was glad of the diversion created by 
Mucker because of Kansas’ manner. 

Evenin’," was the latter’s brief greeting. ** Any 
mailfer us?" 

He did not even glance at the younger man as 
he spoke, but stared at his post box. 

Ross handed out a couple of magazines with the 
question, How’s Rodrigo?" He stammered in 
his embarrassment at Kansas’ cold, distrustful 
manner. 

“ He’ll git along until Dr. Scudder comes back," 
219 


ROSS GRANT 

replied Kansas with an emphasis which could not 
be mistaken. 

The blood rushed to Ross's face and he asked 
bluntly : Does that mean you don't want me to 

go over and see him to-morrow ?" 

“ It means jest that ! " returned Kansas coolly, 
opening the door and shutting it hard with him- 
self on the other side. 

Ross stood with clenched fists, the blood hum- 
ming through his ears, angered by Kansas' insult- 
ing manner and slighting dismissal in the face of 
the benefits that — “ That he has no idea he has re- 
ceived I " came the final saving thought that un- 
doubled the fist. Of course, he not only had no 
idea what the boy had done for him in the last 
twenty-four hours, but on the other hand he had 
heard those damaging tales from MacFadden, the 
distorted contents of the letter to the elder Grant. 

Impulsively the boy reached a decision. What- 
ever the results, he could not bear to have Kansas 
think him a spy and a sneak, and believe that he 
used his profession as a cover for a personal in- 
trigue. Seizing his unfinished letter to Lambert 
he added it to the letter to his father which still 
occupied his pocket and raced down the trail. 

Night had fallen and the canon was dark. As 
he approached it Ross was obliged to slacken his 
speed and feel his way forward. He was unable 
220 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


to hear Kansas^ footsteps and in alarm lest he had 
gone beyond call, he stopped and shouted, Kan- 
sas I Kansas Brown I 

There was no answer. He stumbled along a 
little further and then raised his voice again, 

Kansas — hello, Kansas ! ” adding with a note of 
desperation, “ Wait, and you won’t be sorry I ” 

“Well, what is it?” asked a voice so near at 
hand that the boy was startled. The voice was so 
gruJT and forbidding that he did not at first recog- 
nize it as Kansas’. He hurried on up the canon. 
Kansas was waiting for him, but did not meet him 
half-way either in manner nor distance. Ross 
was prepared, however, to go all the way in his 
efforts to lay the truth before the other. He peered 
through the darkness anxiously, holding out the 
two letters. 

“ Read these, will you ? ” he asked. “ I’ll light 
matches for you to see.” He lit one and held it 
over the envelopes. 

Kansas looked at them but did not extend his 
hand. “ What are they ? ” he asked. 

“ They’re letters that I wrote without any idea 
of asking you to read ’em, and so you may know 
they tell the truth.” 

Kansas took them and stared down at them un- 
comprehendingly. “ Truth about what ? ” 

“ My part in the fuss over the boundaries.” 

221 


ROSS GRANT 


Kansas looked up quickly and took one step 
nearer that he might the plainer read the boy's 
face. 

Ross met his eyes frankly. I'm not going to 
have you believe what's being told around here 
to-day," he went on insistently. I've only just 
heard it myself, and I suppose you have." 

“ Heard what ? " guardedly. 

That I've been a fraud and have been spying 
on you." 

“How's that?" Kansas asked, but Ross knew 
that he did not need to ask. 

As briefly as possible the boy told of his con- 
versation with Boots, and of his experience with 
MacFadden behind the post-ofifice boxes. “ Now," 
the boy ended, “ here is the letter from which he 
made up all the information that he has been giv- 
ing out. Read it and judge for yourself. Will 
you ? " 

Still Kansas hesitated, looking at Ross rather 
than at the letters. Ross lit another match and 
held it up so that the two could see each other's 
faces plainly. 

“ All I ask," Ross urged, “ is that you'll read 
what MacFadden read and draw your own con- 
clusion instead of taking his — and he read only 
one page of the letter to father. I want you to 
read both of these." 


222 


IN MINERS' CAMP 


Quietly then, Kansas accepted the letters and 
read first the letter to the elder Grant and then 
the unfinished letter to Lambert, while Ross 
lighted matches and held them behind his cupped 
hand above the paper. The man lingered a bit over 
the letter to the intern, and his manner softened. 

“There, now,^^ said Ross when Kansas at last 
lowered the sheets. “ You know all that there is 
to know about the matter so far as I^m concerned. 
I am going to try to get hold of Razorback. But 
I want him to tell the truth, no matter who gets 
the worst of it. I want the matter settled before 
we have a lot of heads to patch up here. But as 
for having it said,^' angrily, “ that father sent me 
here to help run you out of camp and that I stayed 
with your man last night so I might pry into your 
tunnel — I tell you that trash makes me hot under 
the collar ! Father never had a thought of such a 
thing, and I never went near the entrance of your 
tunnel. I stayed on Dundee because I thought it 
was my duty to I Now,^^ defiantly, “ you can take 
that or leave it, but I^m telling you exactly the 
truth. 

Kansas looked at him steadily. “ Yes,'^ he said 
abruptly, “ I believe ye — and I'd like t' see Razor- 
back here as well as any one else I " 

Then, as though fearing he had said too much, 
he whirled hastily and strode up the cafion. 

223 


ROSS GRANT 


** See here I ” Ross shouted stubbornly. ** Does 
that mean then that you want me to go up to see 
your man to-morrow — or doesn^t it ? 

Yes” came back the abrupt answer. ** It 
means — come.*' 

Ross drew long breaths as he climbed the trail 
slowly. His relief was great that he had vindi- 
cated himself to the crackerjack of a man " I 
Besides, he was glad to know that Kansas would 
also welcome a settlement of the boundaries even 
though it might mean defeat for him. This con- 
firmed his opinion of the other. 

As soon as he reached the office, Ross finished 
up both letters and sealed them. Then he and 
Mucker turned in, Mucker lying behind him in a 
bunk built for one. But so tired was Ross that he 
fell asleep at once and slept until late the next 
morning. In fact Bill Travers banged on his door 
before he aroused himself to the outgoing mail 
and breakfast. 

Wall," grinned Bill, ** I done ye a good turn 
by bringin* that word t* th* boys last night, hey ? " 

Think° you did ? " responded Ross non-com- 
mittally. 

Sure thing I " affirmed Bill. Canon'll be as 
peaceful as Mary's little lamb to-day — dunno what 
Meeteetse'll be, though. Still, it'll be so plumb 
full of folks that th' camps will be lost in th' 
224 


IN MINERS* CAMP 

crowd. Guess theyUl pay more attention t^ th^ 
circus ^n^ refreshments than t' each other.*' 

“ Which one did you see yesterday, Sims or 
the doctor ? " asked Boss, suddenly changing the 
conversation. 

Oh — that — why, Sims, of course," returned 
Bill, carelessly, picking up the mail-bag. “No- 
body ever sees th* doctor when he's down there — 
no one but Sims, that is. Great cronies they be, 
and Sims understands that the doctor wants a deal 
of sleep down there — more'n he can get here I " 
Bill, having progressed to the doorway with the 
mail- bag, stopped and looked back grinning. “ Say, 
Doc, th' camps is findin' out ye ain't no tender- 
foot,. after all, eh ? " 

He winked back at Ross, but the latter was on 
his guard. He merely lifted his eyebrows and 
went into the kitchen, leaving Bill carrying away 
only the news he had brought. 

The canon seemed strangely lonely and desolate 
that morning. Ross missed the blasts that told 
of progress in the tunnels ; missed the occasional 
“ hiker " on the Gales Ridge trail ; missed also the 
stress and exciting strain of the past three days. 
He regretted the meagerness of his duties for the 
day. There was nothing he was obliged to do 
until afternoon. Then he would visit Rodrigo, 
and after that he would hunt up Dad in Seven 
225 


ROSS GRANT 


and have a talk with him. He could tell Dad 
now all about the frustrated plan centering about 
the letter to Kansas and tell him also about Mac- 
Fadden^s discovery of the stray page. 

An occupation for the morning was suggested to 
him while he was eating breakfast. The left side 
of Mucker’s head was toward him with its peculiar 
patch of gray hair above the ear, outlining the 
dent. In the doctor’s bedroom Ross had noticed 
some shelves full of medical books. Half an hour 
later he was in pursuit of knowledge concerning 
the surgical possibilities of dealing with that dent, 
having invaded the doctor’s room and found a 
book bearing on the subject. He also questioned 
Mucker again as to the circumstances attending 
the injury, but got no further information on the 
subject. 

He done it with a stick,” the boy reiterated 
monotonously. Then he added suddenly and irrel- 
evantly, “ I know where there’s matches.” 

Do you ? ” said Ross, his fingers pressed into 
the dent. ** See here, Mucker,” he burst out, did 
you ever see a train of cars ? ” The question was 
the outgrowth of a plan which had been forming 
in the young man’s mind during the morning. 

“Cars?” repeated Mucker vaguely. “What’s 
cars ? ” 

Ross explained at some length until he saw he 
226 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


had excited the half-wit’s interest. Then he began 
on another tack : In a few weeks, Mucker, I’m 
going to take you away on the cars. You can go 
with me without your father,” he hastened to add, 
** and my pockets will be full of candy.” 

''For me?” asked Mucker greedily. He held 
out his hand. " I want some now.” 

Ross gave him two chocolates. One he ate and 
one he laid on a bench saying he was going to take 
it to Kansas. Soon after he wandered out on the 
mountainside in search of flowers to take to Kan- 
sas, but before he went, Ross was obliged to re- 
assure him for the tenth time of his father’s 
absence. His six-year-old mind held two emo- 
tions : fear of his father when Wort was acting 
" queer,” and devotion to Kansas Brown. Because 
Kansas had told him not to " say swear words,” 
he refrained. Kansas had told him to wash his 
face before he ate, and he obeyed. Out of con- 
sideration for Kansas, who disapproved of tears, 
Mucker suppressed many a childish briny flood. 

After dinner the two prepared to visit Dundee, 
Ross with his turpentine and bandages. Mucker 
with his hands filled with wilted wild flowers. 
They had got as far as the end of the ledge in their 
journey when it was postponed by a newcomer 
whom a wagon had dropped at the foot of the 
Gales Ridge trail. He was mounting the grade 
227 


ROSS GRANT 


wearily, his hat drawn low over his face and his 
shoulders bent under the light burden of his hand- 
bag. He was as well groomed as ever, but Ross, 
hastening to meet him, knew from the vacancy of 
the eyes, from the sallowness of the skin and from 
the effort of the mouth to remain firm, that Dr. 
Scudder was in the aftermath of the excessive use 
of morphine. 


228 


CHAPTER X 


THE MORNING OF THE FIFTH 

It was easy enough to judge from the doctor's 
appearance how he had been putting in time since 
he left the mountains. What Ross could not 
judge, however, and what he had no means of 
finding out at once, was that the aftermath of such 
a period was singularly painful and humiliating 
to his chief. It was a period when every nerve 
was a stinging lash, and all his sensibilities, once 
remarkably acute, were aroused in self-condemna- 
tion, poignant but helpless. 

He did not look up as he mounted the trail, 
although he must have been aware of Ross’s loud 
and impulsive hail. Rather, his head sank yet 
lower on his breast and his feet lagged reluctantly. 
The brilliant sunshine streaming into the canon, 
the crispness of the air, the spring-like freshness 
of Nature as a background only served to make 
the approaching figure appear aged and helpless 
and pitifully useless. 

The wagon that had brought him turned at the 
229 


ROSS GRANT 


foot of the trail and started back. It was driven 
by Sims and although he, too, must have heard 
Ross he did not look up, but lounged forward on 
the wagon seat, one foot on the break, his elbows 
on his knees, his cap pulled over his face. 

At the first sight of a man on the trail Mucker 
had slunk behind Ross, clutching the latter’s 
sweater and asking over and over, Who's that ? 
Will he git me ? ” 

Ross dropped a reassuring hand on the boy’s 
shoulder. “ It’s Dr. Scudder, Mucker. Don’t you 
remember him ? ” 

** Yep, if ’twas ’im, but ’tain’t!” declared Mucker, 
beginning to whimper. I know ’im, but ’tain’t 
’im. It’s some one t’ git me. He’s actin’ queer. 
I’m goin’ to hide.” 

All right,” returned Ross. Hide behind 
your shack there if you want to. But he’ll not 
get you. I won’t let any one get you.” 

Mucker crept behind his father’s cabin and 
peeked out furtively while Ross went down the 
trail to meet the doctor and relieve him of his 
bag. 

He went with a cheerfulness which was painful 
to see because it was so forced. He was as embar- 
rassed as though he had been caught in wrong- 
doing himself, and the embarrassment increased 
when the two reached the office and Ross, who had 
230 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


walked on ahead up the mountainside, now had 
no excuse for keeping his back toward the doctor. 
The latter sank exhausted on the bench nearest 
the door. For a while he kept his eyes lowered in 
the forlorn hope of concealing their condition from 
his assistant, while the assistant, recognizing the 
hope, looked everywhere, as he talked, except at 
the doctor^s haggard face — and he talked inces- 
santly. He felt driven to make conversation in 
order to cover the situation, and yet he did not 
seem able to touch on a topic which was not a re- 
buke to Scudder or an unsavory reminder of neg- 
lected duties. He stumbled through an account 
of Rodrigo^s fever knowing that Dr. Scudder should 
have been on hand to prescribe for it. The latter 
knew it also. His face flushed and he began an 
aimless search in his bag to occupy hands and 
eyes. 

« You — you did all right,’^ he muttered repeat- 
edly. “ I would have done — done the same 
myself.*' 

Ross cut the narrative short, more embarrassed 
than ever while the doctor's search became more 
purposeful. He delved among the contents, of the 
bag with hands which shook. Finally he steadied 
it on his knees and looked blankly at his closed 
bedroom door for the first time. Then it occurred 
to Ross what he was looking for. 

231 


ROSS GRANT 


** The key I ” he exclaimed. ** Are you looking 
for the key? You left it in the lock when you 
went away.’^ 

The dull eyes met Rosses in a glance of sus- 
picion that brought the blood to the younger man's 
face, and a hurried explanation to his lips. 

I found it — I had to find a place to put some 
— some whiskey where I could lock it up safely to 
get it out of Wort's way — and I remembered that 
your door could be locked." 

Producing the key, Ross held it out to the doc- 
tor. The latter raised his hand, noticed its help- 
less, shaking condition and dropped it again to the 
bag on his knees. Ross, so embarrassed that his 
own hand was unsteady, laid the key on the bench 
and stammered out an account of the “ bust nose " 
and the concealing of the bottles. 

The sequel to the nose, the letter to Kansas, he 
reserved until Dr. Scudder should be in a more 
receptive mood. 

Slowly the doctor lowered his hand-bag to the 
floor, and gathered in the key. When he spoke 
his lips twitched and trembled. I thought I had 
locked the door and — and had the key with me," 
he muttered. He attempted to rise but fell back 
weakly. 

** I'll make you some coffee, doctor," exclaimed 
Ross, glad of an excuse to turn his back on 
232 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


this self-conscious, shaking wreck of manhood. 
“ YouVe had a long ride under a hot sun, and yet 
the wind chills, and the altitude 

Leaving his disjointed sentence unfinished he 
beat a retreat to the kitchen, where he lingered as 
long as he could decently to give his chief an op- 
portunity to pull himself together. When he came 
into the office again with the coffee, the other sat 
on the bench still, leaning against the side logs. 
His eyes were closed and his arms folded across his 
breast. His feet were stretched out and his entire 
bearing told of the running of a race altogether too 
fast for his strength. 

Ross placed the steaming cup beside him and 
then considerately left him alone to manage it in 
his shaking hands. Wandering aimlessly out on 
the ledge, the boy found Mucker still in hiding 
and managed to persuade him that the newcomer 
was not acting queer.^^ Dr. Scudder,'' argued 
Ross, “ is tired and is going to sleep now '' — the 
declaration was father to the wish — and so you 
can come back to the office. After a while we’ll go 
over and see Kansas.” 

Mucker ventured back to the ledge and sat in 
the sunshine, timidly looking at the office door. 
The inner relationship between the doctor and his 
father when the latter was queer ” had not been 
lost on his stunted wits. 


233 


ROSS GRANT 


Presently Ross left him and returned to the 
office. The doctor still sat on the bench, but the 
cofifee cup was empty. His assistant, opening the 
door of the medicine cupboard, began rearranging 
the bottles noisily. Feeling constrained to talk 
again he explained at length his device for holding 
up Wort’s nose with the rubber tube, but the ex- 
planation elicited no response from the bench. 

Finally Ross bethought him of the mail. “ By 
the way, doctor,’^ he exclaimed, diving behind the 
post boxes, ^‘you have a mess of letters here. 
Came last night.’^ 

Have asked the other listlessly, without 
opening his eyes. 

As Ross gathered up the letters he noticed that 
the one addressed in print to My Pappa Scudder lay 
on top. He hesitated and then, slipping it under- 
neath the others, laid the pile beside the doctor 
and beat another retreat to the kitchen with the 
empty coffee cup. 

** That particular letter might hit him hard in 
the eye right now ! ” he told himself. Let ’im 
come to it gradually.^^ 

Standing beside the open window the boy 
loosened the collar of his shirt under the impres- 
sion it was choking him. Hank looked at him 
curiously, for the wind blowing in at the open 
half-sash was chilly, and he had not been ex- 
234 


IN MINERS' CAMP 


ercising violently enough to produce the perspira- 
tion that beaded his face. 

There are things harder to do than handling 
a pick and shovel/' Ross decided as he cooled 
off." 

Suddenly from the outer office door he heard 
the Mucker's voice, fear-stricken, ** Where's the 
other one ? " 

“What do you want. Mucker?” asked the 
doctor's tired voice. 

“ I want the other one," quavered Mucker. 
“ You're queer 1 I don't want ye ! Where's the 
other one? " 

Ross reached the door of the office in two strides 
and called sharply : “ Here, Mucker, I'm here. 
What do you want ? " 

But Mucker, who had been peering in at the 
doctor from the ledge, retreated to his sunny seat 
contentedly when he had located “ the other 
one." 

Dr. Scudder bent a drawn face over the letter 
addressed to “ Minners, Wyoming Camp." “ What’s 
Mucker doing here ? " he asked in a muffled tone. 

“ Why,” Ross began confusedly, “ I brought 
him over yesterday from Dundee. He ran away 

to Kansas because his father " Here the 

speaker caught himself and came to a dead stop. 

A curious change came over Dr. Scudder. The 

235 


ROSS GRANT 


blood left his face. His fingers clutched the 
childish letter until his knuckles were white. He 
looked at Ross, straight, clear faced, steady, and 
then burst out miserably, savagely, with an aston- 
ishing absence of self-control : 

Oh, say it I Don^t stop for me. Say it, I tell 
you I You started to say ‘ because his father isn^t 
to be trusted with a child. ^ That’s what you 
wanted to say and you want to say it to me, too ! 
And I say more I I’ll say that a man who has 
my habits or Wort’s has no right to a family.” 

Ross, dismayed by the outburst so foreign to the 
other’s nature, ignored the speech and plunged 
headlong into a discussion of Mucker’s skull. 
That seemed like a safe and unsuggestive topic. 

Dr. Scudder sat clutching his unopened letter. 
He stared as persistently at his assistant now as he 
had previously avoided looking at him. His face 
was distorted by the emotions surging riotously 
within him, unleashed by the weakness of his 
will. 

Tell you what,” Ross exclaimed finally ex- 
hausting his safe ” topic, “ I’ve an idea I I’m 
going to put Mucker up to my father, and I know 
he’ll come down with a check I I want to get 
that boy under Dr. Gaynor’s eye. I believe he 
could raise the skull where it’s smashed in on that 
side. Then with the brain relieved of pressure, 
236 


IN MINERS' CAMP 


Mucker could get to be like the rest of us. I^m 
going to take him to Dr. Gaynor if such a thing is 
possible.^^ 

“Why not to me?^* demanded Dr. Scudder, 
sharply. 

He leaned forward, dropping the letter to the 
floor. He rested his elbows on his knees, his long, 
delicate fingers doubling and undoubling nerv- 
ously. He pushed his cap back from a moist 
forehead and looked at Ross compellingly from 
under heavy, tired lids, his voice increasing in 
harshness and persistency as he went on : 

“ Why do you leave me out of the matter ? 
Dr. Gaynor would tell you I^m a more skilful 
surgeon than he. And I'm here, while he is 
across the continent. Why not me. Grant ? " 

Ross gasped. He stammered and writhed, but 
Dr. Scudder's relentless and repeated, “ Why not ? " 
held him until the unvarnished truth came out in 
a sledge-hammer blow : 

“ Because of the hypodermic syringe I found 
in your room. I'd not like to put any one's life 
in the hands of a surgeon who — uses ^ dope.' " 

Dr. Scudder sprang to his feet. Ross did not 
realize that the former's questions had been but 
one of the thumb-screws with which he had been 
torturing himself. Now he walked the floor 
rapidly, unsteadily, raging at himself while Ross 

237 


ROSS GRANT 


listened aghast at the misery in the other’s tone 
and the utter abandonment in his manner. 

I got into this thing when I first began my 
practice,” the man rapped out as though his habit 
was a thing of form and substance. I wanted to 
get ahead faster. I overworked and began to take 
morphine to steady me — to brace me for more 
work. Before I knew it the habit had me in its 
grip, and I couldn’t stop. Before I realized it I 
had given away my future. Morphine had taken 
it — deformed it — thrown me down from positions 
of trust — my wife can’t live with me — my children 
I’ve not seen in two years — even these miners are 

beginning to distrust me ” 

Ross backed up against the doctor’s door. 
See here, sir,” he finally broke in. Why don’t 
you stop? Why don’t you go back East and 
build up your practice again? You have the 
fingers — and the head — and the knowledge, and 
the friends ready to help. Why don’t you quit ? ” 
The tortured man swung around and faced the 
boy with his rugged clean strength untouched by 
vice. “ You don’t even know what you’re saying, 
and you may thank God that you don’t I You 
have never been in the hell of a habit that’s bigger 
than you, and mightier.” 

** No, sir,” returned Ross emphatically, I have 
never been, and what’s more I’m never going to 
238 


IN MINERS' CAMP 


be. I can’t afford it. I’ve got to keep my hand 
and head steady. That’s part of the business of 
surgery, the most important part. Uncle Fred 
made me see that.” 

You ought to thank God then for an Uncle 
Fred ” — here the doctor stopped in his feverish 
pace and swung around facing Ross — “ and thank 
Him too for common sense enough to take the 
best advice ever given a young fellow. I had 
enough advice thrown at my head, but it never 
soaked in. Now I’m paying the price.” 

With a groan he threw himself on the bench 
and picked up his child’s letter. “ I’m paying the 
price,” he moaned again. It tastes as bitter as 
death, the price does, but I’m bound to pay it — 
bound ” 

He arose again with all the strength gone which 
agitation had given him and staggered across the 
room to his door. After he had unlocked it, he 
turned again to Ross. His voice had lost its un- 
naturally harsh, high-pitched tone. He spoke 
with an unutterable sadness. 

Grant, you’ll do well to remember, always, 
that a steady hand and head are part of your busi- 
ness.” 

** But,” Ross insisted ardently, you can come 
back to a steady hand. I know that it is done — 
you can head off this — this habit ” 

239 


ROSS GRANT 


The doctor paused, one hand on the opened 
door. “ Grant, the saddest, most hopeless thing 
about it is that the time comes when you donT 
want to quit. I’m there now.” 

No, no I ” Ross shouted. You’re not there 
now. You do want to quit. You’ve just said it 
— acted it at least ” 

The doctor looked at him helplessly. I want 

it — yes, to-day. To-morrow ” he ended with 

a pitiful shrug of the shoulders. “ This ” — he 
held up the letter, and you ” — he passed his 
hand across his forehead, have brought me to 
my senses for a moment only.” 

“ But right now you can resolve ” urged 

Ross. 

The doctor interrupted. “ Resolve, Grant I 
Resolve ? There are not enough days in the year 
to hold my broken resolutions. There’s just one 
way to reform me, and no one has the power 
to do it I I would have to be ‘ roped and branded,’ 
as the saying goes here, and compelled to quitT 

He stopped abruptly and, entering his room, 
locked the door. For some time he moved about 
restlessly on one side of that door and Ross on the 
other. The boy was deeply moved by the humili- 
ation and shame and despair of his chief. He 
felt ashamed because of the other’s weakness, 
but he could not realize the helplessness that ac- 
240 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


companied the weakness. Several times he held 
out his right arm and clenching his fist, felt 
the strong healthy bunching of the muscles. It 
was an arm strong enough to rope and brand 
Dr. Scudder — but the roping of his habit was a 
different matter. The boy thought of Dr. Gaynor 
and wondered if he could handle the case the 
other side of the locked door. His faith in Gaynor 
was supreme. 

Finally the pacing in the doctor^s bedroom 
ceased and the silence made Ross shiver. He 
feared that, after the nerve-racking scene through 
which the older man had just passed, he would 
resort again to the hypodermic syringe. 

Finally, unable to endure the silence longer, he 
stepped to the door and rapped, calling : Oh, 
doctor, by the way, if you^ll hand out Worths old 
bag I'll take it in my room out of your way." 

The door did not open. There was a moment's 
pause and then the other's voice, devoid suddenly 
of the emotions that had torn it, answered 
hoarsely : ** It's not in my way at all. Grant — and 
your room can't be locked up I " 

Ross backed away from the door. ** Well," 
he decided, I have no power to rope him and tie 
him and make him quit — but I'm certainly in a 
tight box here ! " He hung around for another 
hour before visiting his patient on Dundee, hoping 
241 


ROSS GRANT 


that the doctor would appear, but not another 
sound issued from the bedroom. Finally he 
rapped and called repeatedly, but was answered 
only by a drowsy murmur, and, realizing that the 
man was again under the influence of the drug, 
Ross, in dismay, set out for Dundee, followed by 
Mucker. 

As they reached the canon, the boy suddenly 
announced triumphantly : I know where they^s 
some matches I 

‘‘ Do you ? commented Ross absently. 

His thoughts were not on Mucker’s detached 
speech, but on Dr. Scudder with his wasted knowl- 
edge, his unused skill and, what to Ross was 
worse, his capacity for doing mischief when en- 
trusted with the lives he was expected to aid. 

I wouldn’t want him dosing me after seeing 
the state that medicine cupboard is in, to say noth- 
ing of the state his nerves are in, — and as to sur- 
gery ” Ross shivered and looked at the dent 

over Mucker’s ear. 

As the two passed under the dump of Seven, 
Ross looked up searchingly, but saw nothing of 
Dad. 

We’ll go up and visit Seven on our way 
home,” he told Mucker as he led the way on the 
narrow, perilous trail below the ledge and climbed 
the dump of Eight in silence. 

242 


IN MINERS' CAMP 


As he emerged above the dump he saw evi- 
dences of timbering in the tunnel. The end of a 
small tree trunk was disappearing into the mouth. 
Kansas must have been at the other end as Jean 
stood outside wiping his wet reddened face on his 
shirt sleeve. He turned hastily as a sneeze from 
Mucker betrayed the presence of callers. 

“ Oh, howdy, Doc I " he called, coming toward 
them. ‘‘ I guess you'll find your patient in toler- 
able good shape to-day.'’ 

He conducted Ross to the bunk house at once, 
while a mufiled sound of hammering came from 
the tunnel. Jean made no comments on this nor 
on anything else except Rodrigo and the weather, 
but the absence of suspicion in his manner, and 
his friendlier attitude, told Ross that Kansas had 
given a favorable account of their interview in the 
canon the previous night. 

Mucker, clutching his melting chocolate drops 
in one hand and his wilted fiowers in the other, 
stopped protestingly when they reached the bunk 
house and found no one in it except the sick 
man. 

** I want Kansas," he whimpered. “ Where's 
Kansas ? " 

Jean laid his hand firmly on the boy's shoulder 
and steered him into the bunk house. He's in 
the tunnel." 


243 


ROSS GRANT 


Mucker resisted. ‘‘IVe got these fer 4m/' he 
insisted. ** I want 4m." 

Jean's hand did not relax its grasp. He's 
workin' now and can't bother with ye," emphat- 
ically. Stay right here." 

Mucker's whimpers increased. I — got to — 

tell — tell 'im somethin'." 

Well," responded Jean not unkindly, tell me 
and I'll tell 'im for ye." 

I — c-can't," sobbed Mucker, one arm curved 
over his face. want t' t-tell 'im I know — 
matches " 

He has matches on the brain," said Ross, be- 
ginning to remove the bandages from Rodrigo's 
arm. “ I'm sure I don't know what he means." 

** Generally he don't mean nothin'," said Jean, 
except to my brother. Kansas seems t' have a 
way with 'im of findin' out what's under Mucker's 
senseless talk. He's got a heap of patience with 
the boy." 

I — I want Kansas," sobbed Mucker insistently. 
“ I'm goin' — t' th' tunnel after Kansas." 

No ye ain't," impatiently from Jean. Ye're 
goin' t' stay here. He's too busy to bother with ye, 
I told ye." 

Ross, also, was disappointed not to see Kansas, 
but he said nothing, and gave his attention to Rod- 
rigo. 


244 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


The latter was much improved and was sitting 
up in his bunk propped up with blankets. His 
fever was gone, and his arm was healing nicely. 
After Ross had bandaged it again he picked up his 
supplies, pocketed them and turned away, saying : 

** 111 come one more day, and then he can come 
over to the ofl&ce. Dr. Scudder is back, and hell 
see if everything is all right. Probably the doc- 
tor can come over to-morrow with me.’^ He said 
it with many misgivings. 

Back, is he — as soon as this ? '' asked Jean care- 
lessly, but the form of the question showed Ross 
that the other must have received information of 
previous and longer trips made by the doctor out 
of the mountains. 

Jean walked with the two past the tunnel, re- 
sisting Mucker's renewed importunities to see Kan- 
sas, and then stood on top of the dump and 
watched the two out of sight around the end of 
the ledge. 

Arriving at the trail over the dump of Seven, 
Ross mounted it, followed by a stumbling, whim- 
pering Mucker, and called loudly for Dad. No 
one answered, and Ross, still calling, entered the 
tunnel. He stumbled along the dripping passage- 
way with its walls of alternating rock and timber 
until the darkness prevented his further passage. 
Then he retraced his steps, picking his way 

245 


ROSS GRANT 

through the muck that covered the floor of the 
tunnel. 

He was disappointed at not finding Dad. There 
were many things he wanted to talk over with the 
older man, among them Dr. Scudder, and his 
weaknesses. It did not seem credible to the boy 
that a man who had reached such a height in 
his profession as the doctor should allow a 
deliberately acquired habit to pull him into the 
ditch. He swung along down the canon, his pulses 
tingling with the health and strength that right 
living and right thinking bring to any boy, and 
the thought of the doctor was a contemptuous 
thought. 

** It's beyond me," he told himself, “ how any 
one can lie down in a ditch in the mud when he 
might be the fellow up on the bank in the sun- 
shine I I can't understand it. With his knowl- 
edge of medicine he ought to have known when 
he was taking a dose to steady up his hand for 
an operation that he was laying the rails that 
would run him into the ditch — but," tolerantly, 

I don't suppose he was thinking about laying 
any rails — wasn't doing much thinking, I 
presume, beyond the fact that he wanted to 
take on more work than he had natural strength 
to do." 

Suddenly Ross stopped so short that Mucker, 
246 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


treading silently on his heels, bumped against 
him and began to whimper. The Book of Forget- 
fulness seemed to Ross to have arisen in the trail 
and smote him in the face. The blood flamed to 
his forehead. He had not laid the foundation for 
future dissipations during the last year, it was 
true, but he had — by not thinking — laid the rails 
of carelessness and forgetfulness which might ditch 
him any day. 

“ In fact,^^ he told the uncomprehending Mucker, 

that matter of the DobelTs tablets, now — that^s a 
fair sample of what I was in the way of doing 
more than once. Such work wouldnT make a 
sot of me, but it would make me as useless as 
Scudder.” 

He walked on more slowly. Of course, if the 
doctor could have seen the ditch in his first dose 
of morphine he never would have taken it. Per- 
haps a dozen people had warned him, but because 
he did not see for himself the possible end — did 
not realize it — he had paid no attention to the 
dozen — ‘‘ Except probably,^^ thought Ross, to 
wish they^d keep their notions to themselves, just 
as I did at first about father^s harping on my for- 
getfulness.^^ 

As soon as he reached the shack on the ledge he 
went to his room, took the Book of Forgetfulness 
from the shelf and looked at it with a new respect. 

247 


ROSS GRANT 


That stood for his particular weakness, and some 
one else might regard that weakness some time 
with the same contempt he had been giving Dr. 
Scudder^s. Some one might be saying, “ Grant 
would be a first-class surgeon if only he had his 
wits about him I 

He stood looking down at the thin book as 
though it alone had been the source of an inspira- 
tion, whereas the interview with the doctor and 
the vividness of the impression centering about 
that interview, together with the application to his 
own growing habit of carelessness, had focussed 
his thoughts sharply on the fact that success in 
life means self-control to a high degree along 
every line coupled with the development of every 
faculty. 

Replacing the book on the shelf, he left the 
room slowly and going back to the office again 
tried Dr. Scudder^s* door, but this time with an 
absence of impatience and contempt. There was 
no response to his calls, nor, later, to Hank^s sum- 
mons to supper, and neither made any further 
attempt that night to arouse the physician. 

The following morning the doctor appeared at 
breakfast time, but he was not the man of yester- 
day. Around him was that wall of silence, of 
aloofness which had the power to keep Ross silent. 
There was also the actual distaste for food which 
248 



HE LOOKED DOWN ON THE FIRST ARRIVALS 




IN MINERS^ CAMP 


marks the victim of morphine, and the unsteadi- 
ness of the hand and muscles of the face. 

After breakfast the man retired to his room, 
leaving the door open. He sat a long time beside 
his table writing, while Ross sat in the office pre- 
tending to read, but really trying to gain courage 
enough to refer to the conversation of the pre- 
vious evening and again urge the other to quit.^' 
While he was cudgeling his brain for a tactful 
beginning, the doctor arose abruptly and closed 
the door. When Ross heard the key click he 
drew a long breath and went out on the ledge, 
disgusted with himself and the wits that had 
refused to come to his rescue. 

Presently voices from the canon reached him, 
and going to the edge of the ledge he looked down 
on the first arrivals from Meeteetse, Kansas' Mex- 
ican employees. They toiled up the canon laugh- 
ing and gesticulating, disappearing more quickly 
from sight than sound. An hour later came the 
rumble and creak of wagons and Sims' freighter 
outfit came in sight and dropped the Gales Ridge 
men at the foot of the trail up the mountainside. 
They did not seem so gay as the Mexicans. They 
came toiling heavily upward as though the ascent 
were more of an exertion than usual. The reason 
was plainly written in the bearing of many, in their 
reddened faces and unsteady walk. Seeing Ross 
249 


ROSS GRANT 


standing on the ledge, his hands in his pockets, 
they greeted him with a heartiness varying ac- 
cording to the energy each had retained after 
forty-eight hours in town. 

“ How does it come you^re all back before the 
upper camp men ? Ross called to Harve who was 
the last to pass the end of the ledge. 

Harve stopped, removed his sombrero and passed 
a hand across his aching head. 

Foreman made us come,” he explained. “ WeVe 
got t' git in the shift to-night and go t^ work. Th^ 
upper camp is still in Meeteetse doin’ th’ sights 
of th’ city 1 ” 

Ross nodded and turned his attention to a 
group of new arrivals. They were Dad’s men, 
all Americans, plodding along the stage trail 
wearily. When the foremost reached the trail 
leading up the side of Gales Ridge, he cupped his 
hands about his mouth and shouted up at Ross, 
Hey, Doc Tenderfoot 1 Is Dad up there ? ” 

It was a question that Ross never answered. 
Scarcely had the words left the man’s mouth when 
from Dundee, high up under the eaves of the tow- 
ering peak, came such a roar as had never before 
disturbed the silence of the mountains. It seemed 
to rend the sky and fill the canon with terror. It 
surged back and forth, an ocean of mighty sound 
which broke against the peaks only to be hurled 
250 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


back in bursting echoes from the opposite ridges, 
while great boulders were lifted into sight against 
the sky-line and came hurtling down the side of 
Dundee, leaping from point to point, bearing down 
trees and uprooting mighty rocks. 


251 


CHAPTER XI 


A MYSTERIOUS GET-AWAY ** 

Ross, confused and appalled, watched the boul- 
ders bounding down the side of Dundee while the 
thunder of the explosion rolled away among the 
distant peaks. What had happened ? The ques- 
tion was not answered at once. There succeeded a 
silence that was oppressive and full of breathless 
waiting. The men below stood as though frozen 
in their tracks, their faces turned up toward the 
disturbed heights. 

What is it ? ” Ross muttered aloud stupidly. 
** What^s broken loose up there ? 

One of the men below turned back toward the 
ridge, cupped his hands around his mouth and 
yelled slowly and clearly, ** Which — is — it ? 

Ross looked down at him blankly, and returned 
the yell : “ Which — what d^ye mean by * which ^ 

The man made no reply, and Ross saw the ques- 
tion had been directed far above him to some one 
on the side of the ridge. But it took only an in- 
stant's thought to answer his own inquiry : the ex- 
plosion must have come from either Seven or 
252 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


Eight, as those two were the only claims on Dun- 
dee having enough dynamite on hand to make so 
terrific an explosion. 

The man in the canon repeated his question in 
the single long-drawn shout of “ W-h-i-c-h ? 

It was answered from above by a frantic cry, 
“ It^s Seven, boys. Seven^s blowed up ! 

At this there was a murmur of voices from be- 
low and above, a murmur swelling rapidly into 
angry and menacing yells as man after man raced 
past the ledge from the tunnel high up on the side 
of Gales Ridge. They did not bother to follow the 
trail, but leaped from rock to rock, pitching down 
the steep slopes, shouting hoarse, disjointed sen- 
tences that turned Ross’s heart cold. He stood 
watching this human stream flowing past without 
feeling enough power of locomotion to join it. 
Boots, he saw, was carrying a rifle in one hand 
and in the other a field-glass, which he waved at 
Dad’s men below, shouting : 

I could see Eight from up yon and it ain’t 
teched, so it’s got to be Seven that’s gone.” 

Kansas’ll go up too when we git there 1 ” came 
another voice, its owner buckling his gun belt 
more tightly about him as he ran. 

This remark galvanized Ross into action, and he 
joined the mad race for Dundee. Kansas I It 
couldn’t be that Kansas would blow up Seven. 

253 


ROSS GRANT 


The boy thought of the conversation he had over- 
heard the night he took care of Rodrigo, specula- 
tion as to what would happen if a match were 
touched to the powder house of Seven. 

It can^t be the work of Kansas I he told him- 
self, but his heart choked him. 

Out of the confusion of tongues ahead scraps of 
remarks reached him. 

Dad's men wa'n’t back " 

‘‘ Kansas' men was — the dirty coward " 

a put up job " 

course his Greasers didn't " 

It's a job more'n one party can help along I '' 
On reaching the canon the men automatically 
gave first place to Boots, who still clutched his 
field-glass and rifle. He had not stopped to buckle 
on his cartridge belt. On his heels trod his faith- 
ful follower, Harve. Ross pushed well to the 
front, falling in just behind Harve, intent on hear- 
ing anything that Boots might offer. He knew 
that anything said by Boots went with that crowd. 
But Boots, small, wiry, active, was setting a dif- 
ficult pace at a half run, his head down, his fingers 
tense on rifle and glass. He was leaving all 
speech to his followers. The race and the excite- 
ment, however, admitted of but little conversation. 
Disjointed remarks only were tossed about between 
labored breaths, and every remark pointed to but 

254 


IN MINERS' CAMP 


one explanation of the explosion : that Kansas had 
blown up Dad^s powder house with its recently ac- 
quired store of dynamite. Every one except Ross 
believed this as firmly as though he had seen it 
done. It was the only plausible theory. There 
was no one else on Dundee beside Dad, in the first 
place, except the outfit in Eight, while the feud 
between Seven and Eight furnished indisputable 
proof of the guilt of Kansas. In fact, one of the 
men declared agitatedly that he had wondered 
** time ^n^ time again why Kansas hadnT teched a 
match before t^ Dad^s powder house ! 

** Because,^^ grunted a man behind the speaker, 
because he knew that match would finish ^im fer 
these mountings even if he got away from us with 
his life I 

“ Which he won't I " panted some one else, 
sprinting forward to a place beside Boots. ‘‘ We'll 
comb th' peaks fer 'im I " 

Ross, running half bent, with arms crooked at 
the elbows and fists doubled, gasped out to Harve, 
Why — did he do it — then ? " 

What d'ye mean ? " 

Ross explained with difficulty : If Kansas had 
nothing to gain — and — everything to lose — by 
blowing up Seven — what makes you think 

he " His breath gave out at this point. 

Harve did not answer, but Boots did. He 

255 


ROSS GRANT 


spoke for the first time and the explanation was 
passed back from mouth to mouth. It satisfied 
every one save Ross. 

“ See here I Can't ye figger out Kansas ? Wall, 
I can, easy. He's likely come t' th' end of the 
lead in his tunnel. Th' vein of ore is likely 
pinched out. He sees it's no good any longer to 
stick to Eight. He's got t' git out anyway, and 
before he goes he jest steps over t' Seven, sees the 
vein there is a-turnin' off good ore. That mads 
'im and he blows Seven up jest t' say good-bye t' 
Dad — and us. Bound t' come out ahead, ye see — 
that's Kansas I " 

This explanation dismayed Ross. He thought 
of the excitement in the tunnel the morning he 
was on Eight. If Boots' theory as to the vein 
pinching out was correct, it would account for 
Jean's conduct that morning he emerged from the 
tunnel just after the putting of a shot. He had 
been very much disturbed and it was very possible 
that this shot had exposed the end of the vein of 
good ore — that the vein, in mining terms, had 
‘‘ pinched out." 

The part of Boots' explanation, however, that 
connected Kansas with disaster to Seven, the boy 
repudiated. Still, he had to acknowledge that, 
under the circumstances, the case against the 
owner of Eight looked dark. 

256 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


“Which way d’ye s’pose they’re hikin’ ? ” panted 
Harve, addressing Boots. 

“ Which way ? ” repeated Ross, laboring along 
just behind. “ Who ? ” 

Harve explained briefly but patiently. He con- 
sidered Ross a competent surgeon, but only a 
tenderfoot boy when it came to the ways of moun- 
tains. 

“ Why, Doc, ye don’t expect t’ And th’ Browns 
a-settin’ on Dundee bangin’ their hoofs ofiF, d’ ye? 
Ye bet they’re hittin’ a tall hike out of this here 
kentry, and don’t ye fergit it I ” 

“ Oh ! ” muttered Ross blankly and fell silent a 
moment. Then he ventured hesitatingly, “ Dad 
— where’s Dad ? ” 

“ I’m lookin’ out t’ see ’im every minute,” Boots 
replied. “ But mebbe Dad’s takin’ after ’em. It 
’ud be like ’im — with a good gun.” 

From these, and similar remarks which reached 
him from the rear, Ross found that while the 
crowd did not expect to find Kansas at the end of 
their journey, they did expect to see Dad. They 
assumed that Kansas had chosen a time for the 
explosion when Dad was away from his tunnel. 
They began the ascent of Dundee without suspect- 
ing a deeper tragedy. 

The swiftness of their ascent soon left Ross in 
the rear. He had not been long enough in the 

257 


ROSS GRANT 


rare atmosphere of the mountains to become 
acclimated. His heart beat like a drum and his 
breath came in gasps, panic-stricken gasps they 
were when he noticed, for the first time, that 
every one of the twenty-six men ahead of him was 
armed. 

“I wish,^' he said suddenly and vehemently, 
that Dad would meet us ; where can he be ? 

The question was asked by others as they ap- 
proached the shoulder of the mountain that hid 
the dump of Seven — asked but not answered by 
the anticipated appearance of Dad. Suspicion as 
to his fate was seeping through the crowd when 
Boots and Harve passed around the shoulder of 
rock and looked up at Seven. They gave a 
loud cry and stood still, but the rest of the men, 
pushing forward, crowded them along on the 
narrow trail until every one could view the wreck 
which had altered the face of that part of the 
mountain. 

The mouth of the tunnel, the bunk house, eat- 
ing shack and powder house were wiped out, and 
in their place lay thousands of tons of d6bris. The 
overhanging mountain had sloughed off and piled 
its rocks, its dirt and its torn, uprooted trees over 
Seven. The explosion had caused a great land- 
slide that had filled in over the dump, forming an 
inclined plane to the top of the ledge that had but 
258 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


a few hours before raised its head fifty feet above 
the mouth of the tunnel. 

For an instant the men crowded together and 
looked up in silent awe at this mighty upheaval. 
Ross was the first to recover the use of his voice. 
Filling his lungs he cupped his hands about his 
mouth and sent up against the wreck a stentorian 
cry of ** Dad — Ho-o-o — Dad I ” 

The long-drawn breaths about him sounded like 
the gentle sough of a breeze. The shout broke the 
spell which had held the men soundless and mo- 
tionless. They moved, and shading their eyes 
with their hands, looked up eagerly. 

“ There he comes I cried Harve. There^s 
Dad 1 ” 

They all saw a figure making its way slowly 
over the twisted tree trunks, and around the 
boulders, breaking through the surface occasion- 
ally where a covering of dirt had been fiung over 
the tops of the fallen spruces. 

'' Why,'' muttered Boots stupidly, that ain't 
Dad." 

A second figure arose out of the debris and fol- 
lowed the first. Then heads appeared here and 
there, as their owners arose from holes and crev- 
ices over the original location of the mouth of 
Seven. 

The men below stared in silent bewilderment 
259 


ROSS GRANT 


until the approaching figures came near enough 
to be recognized. Then Ross shouted joyfully ; 
“ Why, boys, it’s Jean Brown — and Kansas is 
behind him. They haven’t run away I ” 

His joy, which was short lived, was the outcome 
of the explanation detailed by Harve. The Browns 
had not run away, therefore they were not guilty 
of blowing up Seven. 

Jean stopped within ear-shot and leaning over a 
tree trunk yelled, We — can’t — find — hide — ner — 
hair — of — Dad. He’s — likely buried I ” 

Dad buried I ” cried Harve. Dad buried ! 
Then ” 

The remainder of his sentence was drowned in 
a mighty roar of rage, the outburst of the suspi- 
cion which had been budding on the way up the 
Dundee trail. Above the uproar could be heard 
the voice of Boots. 

‘‘ Murderers ! ” he shrieked. “ Murderers and 
wreckers I ” He turned on his followers. ‘‘ Boys, 
look at ’em ! Sneaks — cowards — murderers I Are 
ye goin’ t’ let ’em git away, boys? ” 

He whirled and, raising his rifle, fired at Jean 
who, unharmed, stood on the tree trunk and wav- 
ing his arms frantically tried to make the furious 
crowd listen, but they would not. 

** Hear him,” yelled Ross, pushing among the 

frenzied men. Let’s listen to him — let’s ” 

260 



HE REELED BACKWARD 



1 


IN MINERS' CAMP 


** Listen to a murderer ! ” shrieked some one in 
front. “ Down with him, I say 1 

Boots fired again, and Jean’s outstretched right 
arm fell helpless. He reeled backward and Kansas 
caught him. He was on his feet again instantly, 
and with his brother began to run back over the 
debris, followed by the Mexicans who scuttled out 
of the holes where they had either been hiding 
or digging. They sprang from cover to cover to 
escape the bullets from the rifie Boots was dis- 
charging amid a pandemonium of yells and re- 
volver shots from the trail. 

As the last bullet left his gun. Boots dropped 
the butt on the trail and turned on the group 
with an order which rang out over the confusion 
and spelled instant action. 

** Head ’em off, boys. Don’t ye see what they’re 
doin’? They can’t git off Dundee except to go 
back this way — right above us here,” pointing up 
at right angles to the trail. We can git ’em as 
they go. Climb, boys I Hike up there and git 
’em!” 

Don’t you see that Kansas didn’t do this?” 
Ross shrieked, laying hold of the men nearest 
him. “ If he had done it he would have run 
away before. You’ve said so yourselves I Listen 1 ” 
But the men would not listen — did not even 
hear. They pushed the speaker aside, unconscious 
261 


ROSS GRANT 


even of his presence, so intent were they on carry- 
ing out their leader’s orders. Straight up the 
steep side of the mountain they climbed, clinging 
to roots and rocks like squirrels to the bark of a 
tree, ominously quiet now and ominously active. 

Ross, helpless and baffled, stood on the trail and 
watched them climb, watched their faces from 
which hate and excitement had blotted out reason 
and pity and justice. A feeling of faintness and 
nausea assailed him. He was well enough ac- 
quainted with the topography of this part of Dun- 
dee to understand the movements of the Gales 
Ridge men. 

There was only one way in which the men on 
the wreck could readily escape, and that was by 
making their way, as Boots had pointed out, 
across the path of their climbing enemies. They 
could not get away quickly over the top of the 
mountain because they would be met by a cliff 
nearly perpendicular. They could not flee down 
the mountainside because the trail on which Ross 
stood followed a narrow shelf with a drop of 
thirty feet below, while to go back over Dundee 
Ledge into the vicinity of Eight was to put them- 
selves into a trap from which escape would be the 
work of a long and unhurried time. 

. Boots, collected now, and resourceful, stood on 
the trail ahead of Ross directing the movements 
262 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


of his men. To one he yelled an order to stay 
where he was, to others to climb right or left or 
advance. Ross saw with a sinking heart that un- 
der his directions there would be a line-up across 
the pathway of the Browns which would leave 
them no chance to slip through, especially since 
Jean had a broken right arm and the Gales Ridge 
men were all armed. Then he scanned the wreck 
anxiously. There was no one in sight, but that 
was not strange, as there was plenty of debris to 
screen the party. He watched until his head 
swam. Then suddenly he gave a stifled exclama- 
tion. It was echoed by Boots, who at the same 
moment had caught a glimpse of an unexpected 
movement on the part of the Browns. They were 
not fleeing in the direction in which they were 
expected, but back toward the ledge — back into 
the trap afforded by the neighborhood of Eight. 

Boys, hold I ” Boots yelled at his followers. 
** They ainT comin^ that way. They Ve jest gone 
back over the ledge.” 

The Gales Ridge men struggled upright, cling- 
ing to brush and rock, and craned their heads 
toward the ledge, silent with astonishment as the 
outfit from Eight, led by Jean and Kansas, strug- 
gled up to the summit of the distant ledge and 
disappeared over its further edge like rabbits 
scurrying into a hole. Several of the Gales Ridge 
263 


ROSS GRANT 


men discharged their guns, but the fugitives were 
out of range of small weapons and Boots had 
emptied his rifle. 

He dropped it now on the trail, together with 
the field-glass, and taking off his cap pushed his 
hair back from his forehead, his face wearing an 
expression of frowning bewilderment. Six of his 
men slid down the mountainside and joined him. 
Those higher up clung, waiting his command. 

** Hurry I urged Harve, the first to reach 
Boots. Don’t ye see? We’ve got ’em in a trap 
now. They can’t get away.” 

Boots’ scowl deepened. Don’t ye see that 
they’ve got us first ? ” he exploded. “ If Kansas 

has got a rifle an’ can use it ” the rest of the 

explanation Ross lost, also much of the parley that 
followed. At its close Boots yelled hurried direc- 
tions to the men above him to close in on the 
ledge, but to keep under cover there. 

‘‘ Kansas must be aimin’ t’ pick us off on th’ 
ledge,” he shouted, so look alive fer yerselves.” 

Then, paying no attention to Ross, the leader 
started for the ledge, followed by the six men who 
had joined him. The boy was thankful that he 
did not count in their plans. To them he was 
only a badly winded young tenderfoot, a cracker- 
jack ” in surgery, but no good in a chase of this 
kind. They did not mind having him tag along, 
264 


IN MINERS' CAMP 


believing him to be with them in sympathy. The 
fact that they did think him with them hand-in- 
glove struck him now as a good thing in case he 
found a way to help Kansas — and never had he so 
keenly felt the need of being able to make the 
most of his wits. 

The trail around the end of the ledge was 
choked by the wreck and the only way into Eight 
was up over the ledge by the path Kansas' men 
had taken. To Ross it was a difficult path. He 
pulled himself up by the branches of fallen trees, 
he stumbled into holes, he climbed gingerly over 
precariously balanced boulders, and pitched head- 
long over tree trunks. He bruised himself cruelly 
without realizing any pain, so full of suspense and 
terror was the situation. The suspense as to the 
fate of the Browns also dulled the realization of 
Dad's fate — fine old Dad. He did not stop to 
think that somewhere beneath all this tangle lay 
Dad. 

He was the last to struggle up to the top of the 
ledge, where he found Boots' party screening them- 
selves behind the huge rock which, in Razorback 
Jones' survey, was responsible in the first place 
for the tragedy being enacted around it. Ross 
leaning, trembling, against the rock had no room 
in his thoughts for Razorback or the futility of his 
efforts now to get hold of the surveyor. 

265 


ROSS GRANT 


His attention was centered breathlessly on Boots 
dragging himself prone across the ledge until he 
reached the outer edge. Here he raised his head 
cautiously and looked down on Eight. After a 
protracted survey he raised boldly to his knees. 
At this Harve caught his breath in fear. “ Kan- 
sas’ll git ^im if he ain’t careful ! 

As though in reply, Boots stood up. 

Again Harve gasped, this time in amazement : 

Say, boys, it can’t be that Kansas ain’t watchin’ 
t’ pick us off when we show ourselves on top here I 
Why — it’s his only chance in that trap I 

Come on, boys,” called Boots. ‘‘ Ain’t no one 
in sight. Up yon is where they got down t’ th’ 
dump of Eight. Come on. We’ll smoke ’em out, 
wherever they’re hidin’.” 

Ross followed to the edge of the ledge and 
looked down. Eight lay fifty feet below them un- 
injured, for the ledge running like a spine up 
Dundee had protected the side opposite Seven from 
the landslide following the explosion. There was 
neither sign nor sound of the Browns. Ross could 
see the dark empty mouth of the tunnel, the de- 
serted eating shack and the empty bunk house — 
but at this thought his heart gave a sudden lurch. 
The bunk house must have at least one occupant — 
Rodrigo. The Mexican was too ill to join in any 
attempt to escape such as was evidently being at- 
266 


IN MINERS* CAMP 


tempted by the rest. Rodrigo was his patient. 
He must stand by the sick Mexican. Still, it was 
not likely that the men would pay any attention 
to a helpless Greaser, bent as they were on finding 
the Browns. 

“ Where be they — eh ? muttered Harve. 

Fixin^ t’ make a stand some^ers,’^ briefly from 
Boots. Shouldn't be surprised if they^re in the 
tunnel. They may figger they can hold us off 
there. Here, Fatty, to a man next him, my 
rifle^s left behind — no more cartridges. Let^s have 
your gun and I'll cover the tunnel while you boys 
go down." 

A way down was made by a seam in the ledge 
sloping downward to the dump with, to Ross, nerve- 
racking abruptness. The others, accustomed to 
mountain climbing, descended rapidly, but he 
made but slow and painful progress, finding a toe 
hold in the seam and hand holds in the crevices 
above or the bushes that had taken root in the 
seams. 

He had not attempted the descent until the im- 
patient Boots was down and when he finally 
reached the dump he found the party with guns 
drawn screened behind the empty grub shack 
while Boots boldly crept toward the dark mouth 
of the tunnel, a place easy to hold against the 
besiegers. 

267 


ROSS GRANT 


Ross, without awaiting the result of Boots^ move, 
.crossed the dump hastily and entered the bunk 
house in search of his patient. “ Rodrigo,'^ he be- 
gan in a tone intended to be reassuring, and then 
stopped abruptly. 

The Mexican was not there. His blankets were, 
however, and Ross slipped his hand between them. 
They were as warm as though their occupant had 
been there but a moment before. 

Ross looked about bewildered. The bunk house 
was in its usual disorder. He went from bunk to 
bunk lifting the blankets, but none of them cov- 
ered Rodrigo. He stepped to the door. Boots 
was creeping into the tunnel on his hands and 
knees. One of the men behind the grub shack, 
seeing Ross, motioned to him. Ross shook his 
head and answered aloud : 

** There^s no one here, not even the sick 
Mexican.^’ 

Boots, at the entrance of the tunnel, discharged 
his gun within rapidly with the aim of “ smoking 
out the supposed defenders, but beyond the echo 
from his gun there was no sound, and he disap- 
peared into the opening with less caution. He had 
been gone but a few moments before he came run- 
ning out crying in amazement : 

** Boys, they ainT here — not a sign of ^em. Scat- 
ter now and beat up the place. Fire once when 
268 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


you strike their trail/' His tone was perplexed, 
his face puzzled. 

Ross wordlessly followed the leader, who at once 
made a rapid circuit around the edges of the trap, 
leaving the others to beat up the forest of spruce 
and pine that covered the mountainside. He hur- 
ried below first to the trail which lay intact from 
the foot of the ledge out. Ross stumbled along 
behind, his own amazement growing momen- 
tarily as the shouts of the other members of 
the party showed that no one had come on the 
Browns. 

‘'Where have they gone?" Boots exclaimed 
again and again as he surveyed the formidable 
barriers Nature had planted against their escape. 

The lower edge of. the trap was a shelf below 
which was a fall of some thirty feet ending in a 
mass of bushes and sharp-edged rocks. A man 
might drop off this shelf at points and risk his life 
and limb, but at no point was there a sign that 
such a drop had been made. 

A quarter of a mile beyond the ledge the search- 
ers came to the second side of the trap, a sheer, im- 
passable descent into a gorge, the bed of Dundee 
Creek, parallel to the ledge. Ross shuddered and 
drew back from the brink along which Boots hur- 
ried without a shiver. 

“ Not a sign of 'em here," yelled Boots to his in- 
269 


ROSS GRANT 

visible posse in the woods, and this is the side 
they couldn^t make, anyway/' 

Panting in his efforts to keep up with Boots, 
Ross followed him along the third side of the trap, 
the precipitous ascent to the peak above the dump 
and at right angles to the ledge. This ascent had 
been swept clear of hand holds by innumerable 
landslides. A man might climb here to safety, but 
it would take time and patience — and but scant 
time had been allowed to the pursued. 

Boots, bending, scanned the ground carefully. 
He searched the slope also with eager eyes, but no 
footmarks of an ascent appeared. Has the ground 
opened under 'em ? " Boots demanded as they came 
at last to the ledge, the fourth boundary of the 
trap, along the top of which Gales Ridge men had 
placed themselves near enough together so that it 
was impossible for one man, not to mention a 
dozen, to climb over the ledge unseen. Besides, 
there were only a few places along its sides where 
a foothold could be obtained for climbing. 

Ross left Boots and returned to the dump utterly 
bewildered. The ground must have swallowed 
'em I " he exclaimed aloud, sitting down on a sec- 
tion of tree trunk. 

He dropped his face on his hands and sat think- 
ing. He tried to go calmly over the events con- 
nected with the catastrophe. Suddenly he thought 
270 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


of Boots’ explanation of a possible motive for the 
wrecking of Seven — provided Kansas was the 
wrecker — in the pinching out of the vein of ore 
in Eight. Going into the tunnel, he made his 
way to the end, striking matches to show him 
the way when daylight failed. The tunnel was 
like all the others on the mountains. There were 
the same intervals of timbering, the same lengths 
of solid rock walls, the same incessant drip from 
the top, the same sucking mud on the floor. At 
the end Ross found the debris from the last shot 
only partly removed, and remembered that the 
day before the Fourth Kansas and the day shift 
had put in the time cutting trees for timbering. 
By the dim light of his matches he fllled his 
pockets with specimens of ore from the d6bris 
made by this last shot. 

One by one the baffled pursuers came back to 
the dump. They could not credit the escape of 
twelve men, one of whom was wounded and one 
sick. They stood around looking at each other 
stupidly awaiting Boots, who was the last to give 
up the search. 

We’ve looked behind every tree and rock in 
the hull place,” declared Harve, and hain’t found 
even the track of one of their hoofs. It ain’t — 
ain’t — well — nateral I ” 

A note of awe crept into his voice and a mo- 
271 


ROSS GRANT 


merit later he wandered off toward a low big 
shack where stood thirty or more from the dump 
and on a lower level. It was the powder house 
of Eight. 

When Boots arrived, Ross produced the ore 
from his pockets and handed it over for inspec- 
tion. You remember what you said,” he ex- 
plained, about the vein pinching out. I^m no 
judge of ore, and so I brought it out for you to 
see. I picked it up just where it had fallen from 
the last shot.” 

The men crowded around Boots. They were all 
seasoned miners, accustomed to judging ore at 
sight. 

Boys,” exclaimed Boots, Fll be hanged if 
this ainT better stuff than Dad^s tunnel ever 
showed. No, the vein here is fur from pinchin^ 
out, accordin’ to this I ” 

He dropped the ore and stood thinking, but 
before he could bring reason to bear on this fresh 
undermining of the props of Kansas’ guilt, he was 
swept off his feet by a yell from Harve. 

Harve was dragging a case of dynamite from 
the powder house, shrieking, Come on, boys ! 
Come on I ” 

Every one sprang to his assistance save Ross. 
Every one understood his action except the boy 
left on the dump. All Ross could think of at first 
272 


IN MINERS' CAMP 


was that the Browns were hiding in the powder 
house. He did not comprehend what was going 
on until the boxes of dynamite were being carried 
up on the dump and into the eating shack and 
bunk house, but principally into the mouth of the 
tunnel. 

Come, Doc,” Boots called as the last box was 
dragged up on the dump. Git yerself over the 
ledge, fer Eight is goin^ up in jest ten minutes.” 

Yeh, Doc I ” shouted Harve. Blowin^ up tun- 
nels is a game that moreen one can play at.” 

It was useless to protest against the destruction, 
and Ross lost no time in drawing himself up to 
the top of the ledge, followed by every one ex- 
cept Boots, the spryest man among them. Boots 
touched a match to the end of a long, carefully 
laid fuse and leaped to the foot of the ledge. He 
climbed for his life up the narrow projection and 
half a dozen hands reached down from the top to 
aid him. He had barely reached the top when 
once more the air was split by a terrific explosion, 
the mountain trembled, and chaos reigned on 
Dundee Eight. 


273 


CHAPTER XII 


THE SON OF DAD^S PARTNER 

The Gales Ridge outfit regretted that there was 
not enough dynamite available to wreck Eight as 
completely as Seven. There was sufficient, how- 
ever, to destroy the shacks and bring that section 
of the mountainside overhanging the mouth of 
the tunnel down over the dump in a vast, roar- 
ing, sliding heap which buried the tunnel deeply 
enough to make it a fitting companion piece to 
Seven. 

Ross, sick at heart, stood on the ledge and 
watched this landslide hurtling past at his feet, 
grinding huge boulders to pieces and snapping 
the trunks of trees as though they were matches. 
He saw the results of months of work blotted out 
in a moment by this moving, remorseless mass. 

There ye be 1 shouted Boots when he could 
be heard. ** That suits me s* fer as it goes I ” 

** But it donT go far enough, came an answer- 
ing shout, when it donT reach Kansas.” 

The men surrounded their leader, the pickets 
from the ledge gathering in to hear the details of 
the hunt for the missing men, and have verified the 
274 


IN MINERS* CAMP 

incredible fact that no trace of them could be 
found. 

** I don^t exactly believe it's a miracle," Harve 
protested with a note of reluctant awe in his voice. 
** But we seen 'em all pilin' over this ledge, and 
int' the worst trap I ever found, and they ain't in 
it now." 

“ Kansas likely had the way out all fixed up 
before he done this," Fatty suggested. “ He 
likely had his trail picked and his grub hid 'n' 
all that. He was probably all ready fer us." 

But," exclaimed Harve incredulously, ye 
can't pick a way out of a hole like that," pointing 
out over Eight, without showing at least by a 
toe mark where ye've gone, and the toe mark ain't 
there." 

Neither," Fatty retorted, “ is the men, and yet 
ye seen 'em yerself go over there. So they've got 
out somehow I " 

But where — how ? " reiterated a dozen voices 
helplessly. 

Fatty shook his head. If I knew I'd be 
follerin' hot-foot I " 

That ore Doc brought out of Eight bothers me 
some," hesitated another voice in the rear of the 
group. If the vein had pinched out like Boots 
said up the canon it would account fer Kansas 
doin' this, but " 


275 


ROSS GRANT 


Boots interrupted authoritatively : “ See here, 
boys, I figger that this way now : Kansas seen the 
vein was gittin^ richer and richer and that the 
intersection would give a rich passel of ore, and 
Dad was nearer the intersection nor he was. So 
he done fer Dad, cahlatin^ to git clear of the 
mountings scot free and then sell out big to some 
one he has in mind, thinkin’ that we wouldn't 
and couldn't hender a stranger from takin' pos- 
session of Eight and goin' on with the work. In 
this way Kansas wouldn't stand t' lose anything 
on his claim. See ? " 

The crowd saw, and a dozen furious voices made 
response. No stranger, the men swore, should ever 
uncover Eight. It should lie unworked so long 
as one of them remained in the mountains. Kan- 
sas should not be allowed to profit by his crime. 
Dundee Eight had been sealed by the landslide — 
and would remain sealed I 

Boots brought these protests to a close by an 
urge to action. The boulders were yet loosening 
from the steep surface above Eight and hurtling 
downward. The pursuit, the search and the de- 
struction of Eight had occupied only a short half 
hour. 

Boys," Boots’ voice rang out in renewed deter- 
mination, I hain't give up findin’ ’em. No mat- 
ter how they got out they hain’t hiked far. Now 
276 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


let’s divide up ’n’ beat up these mountings ’til not 
a pack rat could get away from us — and let’s do it 
now.” 

Ross had been looking out over the wreck of 
Seven. Relieved by the failure to find Kansas his 
thoughts were turning vividly to Dad’s fate. He 
was dismayed at the men’s intention of hunting 
down the Browns before attempting to rescue Dad. 

See here,” he cried hoarsely, ** what about 
Dad ? Fellows, have you all forgotten Dad ? ” 

He attempted to force his way into the crowd 
gathering around Boots, but as the latter was 
speaking rapidly, no one answered the boy or 
gave place to him. He swallowed hard and 
persisted, although with the natural diffidence that 
marred his forcefulness. He shouldered his way 
forward until he reached Boots. 

“ Say I ” he urged stammeringly. ^‘Say, see 
here ! What about Dad ? I’ll dig — I’ll — who’s 
going to get under that mess — and there’s Nicho- 
las. We’ve got to get Dad out for Nick ” he 

could not go on. 

Boots stopped speaking. For an instant the 
mob spirit died out of his eyes. He too looked 
out over the greater wreck as over the burial place 
of a comrade. Then in a subdued voice he an- 
swered reluctantly while the men involuntarily 
drew back and stood with bowed heads : 

277 


ROSS GRANT 


Doc, it ^ull take days fer thatj and a deal of 
head-work — and anyway, it’ll be too late fer Dad. 
A few hours one way ’r t’other won’t matter to 
him — now. But ” — here his voice rang out 
angrily — ** to his murderers it makes a heap o’ 
difference, and we’ll find ’em if they’re t’ be 
found.” 

Heads came up with a jerk, and a wave of 
angry assent met the declaration. The men closed 
in again,r crowding out the one useless member, 
and Ross found himself unheard and unnoticed 
on the outskirts of the group. Disheartened and 
helpless, he started for Gales Ridge. As he picked 
his way above Seven he was stabbed at every step 
by the belief that Dad lay somewhere beneath his 
feet. When he reached the trail he flung himself 
down, and resting his face on his curved arms, 
struggled with himself. Boots was right! a few 
hours’ delay in commencing to uncover the mouth 
of the tunnel at Seven made no difference to Dad 
— now. But there was his adopted son to be con- 
sidered. Poor Nick 1 No son could think more 
of a father. 

Presently Ross rose to a sitting posture and, with 
his arms clasping his knees, began to argue him- 
self into a state of hopefulness. It was all guess- 
work, he told himself, about Dad’s whereabouts. 
He might be even then over at the office on Gales 
278 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


Ridge. Or he might have gone over the mountain 
on some errand — where, Ross did not care to at- 
tempt to explain, knowing that the nearest neigh- 
bor outside of camp was five or six hours away. 
In his heart the boy knew that Dad would remain 
on guard near his tunnel until his men returned, 
but it might be he was not near enough the dump 
at the time of the explosion to be injured. 

Resolutely fighting back the assumption that if 
he were near enough to hear the explosion and 
was uninjured he would be on hand now, Ross 
descended the trail slowly. He paused at the 
shoulder of the mountain where the first glimpse 
of Seven could be had. It was here he had come 
across Dad scanning the mountainside, hoping it 
would give up the secret of the mysterious ex- 
plosion heard by his men in the tunnel on the 
morning of the third. Ross turned here also, long- 
ing to have the grim and towering rock mass give 
up not only the secret of Dad's whereabouts but 
that most bafiiing secret, the exit of twelve men 
from a trap which had been thought to have no 
exit. But Dundee frowned him down, and he 
turned again toward the canon. 

When he reached the rock where he had sat 
with Mucker two days before, he came across 
Mucker's father, who had fallen out of the race for 
Dundee. Wort sat slumped down on the rock, the 
279 


ROSS GRANT 


adhesive plaster across his broken nose dirty, his 
eyes bloodshot, and his tripping tongue betraying 
the effect of recent indulgence. 

“ Wh-where^s my boy ? asked Wort. 

Ross stopped short ; a startled exclamation es- 
caped him. Sure enough, where was Mucker? 
He had disappeared — when ? Ross passed his 
hand over his eyes. I don’t know, Wort. I’ve 
not seen Mucker since — since — breakfast. That’s 
it. After breakfast, I sat down in the office — I 
didn’t think of him, even.” 

He was speaking more to himself than to Wort. 
He remembered that his attention had been cen- 
tered on the doctor and he had not once noticed 
the absence of the boy. See here, Wort I ” he ex- 
claimed finally. He’s probably up at the office 
now, but you won’t get him” — unconsciously 
adopting Mucker’s expression. He has a bad 
hand, and until it’s healed he’ll not go back to 
work, and until you sober up your boy stays with 
me in any case.” 

Wort began to weep. “ He’s m-my boy, not 
yours!” he protested, ‘*and he’s goin’ t’ muck s’ 
we can e-eat. ’N’ what’s more you’ve s-stole— my 
satchel, and I — I w-want it.” 

** Well, you won’t get it,” Ross returned emphat- 
ically. 

I w-want it before the upper camp gits h-here,” 
280 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


insisted Wort. “ I w-want b-brace up t^ meet 
^em I 

** The upper camp ! echoed Ross. He stood 
staring at Wort as at a ghost. He had not once 
thought of the upper camp, so engrossed had he 
been in the happenings on Dundee. He heard 
Wort speaking, but no longer heeded. Not one of 
the searchers had mentioned the absentees in his 
hearing. I donT believe even Boots has thought 
of them,'^ he told himself, “ nor of what will hap- 
pen when they get here. And what will happen ? 

It was unanswerable, that question, with Seven 
wrecked over Dad and Eight also wrecked, with 
Kansas at large and the upper camp the friends of 
Kansas now fugitive and being hunted. He went 
slowly down the canon, followed by Wort’s voice, 
but the greater anxiety swallowed up for a time 
his sense of responsibility for Mucker or his anxiety 
over the boy’s absence. If only Dad were there to 
take command of the situation. If only he could 
meet the older man with his burly stooping shoul- 
ders supporting the big head — the kind eyes 

Ross choked and hurried up the Gales Ridge trail 
trying to persuade himself that he should see Dad 
in the office. 

It was with a glow of foundationless hope that 
he rushed across the ledge and stopped in the door- 
way. But the glow instantly faded. The ofiSce 
281 


ROSS GRANT 


was empty. The doctor’s door was closed. Hank 
was washing dishes in the kitchen, working nois- 
ily, as unconscious as the doctor of the tragedy on 
Dundee. He had heard nothing, and, not having 
seen the rush down the side of Gales Ridge, his 
world was as yet undisturbed. 

Ross caught up a piece of wrapping paper and 
scribbled a question on it. This he held in front 
of Hank. Have you seen Dad this morning ? ” 

Hank shook his head. 

Ross wrote again. “ Has the doctor been out of 
his room ? ” 

Another shake. 

Ross was leaving the kitchen when the thought 
of Mucker occurred to him, and again Hank shook 
his head at the question : “ Have you seen Mucker 
since breakfast ? ” 

Ross returned to the office and assaulted the 
doctor’s door violently. He shook it and banged 
it, calling lustily for admittance. The only reply 
he received was a deep long breath that broke into 
a gurgling snore. 

He backed into the middle of the room and 
burst out angrily : “ Lying like that — with the 
camps facing such a crisis. And if a fight comes 
off and men are hurt — here I am ” 

He got his field-glass and, going out on the 
ledge, scanned the great mountain opposite, but it 
282 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


seemed devoid of human life. He sat down on 
the door stone, and for the first time since he had 
left the office and joined in the mad rush for 
Dundee, his thoughts traveled connectedly into 
the near future to meet the arrival of the men of 
the upper camp. They were probably now on 
their way from Meeteetse, and he could not believe 
that they had any previous knowledge of what 
was going to happen else they would be on hand 
when it did happen. 

Now he asked himself. Would the shock of 
Dad^s fate supposedly at the hands of Kansas turn 
them against the latter, or would the action of 
the Gales Ridge men in wrecking Eight arouse 
their anger and stimulate their partisanship? 

In the latter case it would mean such a clash, 
or worse, as Dad had feared would take place on 
the Fourth. Ross thought of the temper of the 
Gales Ridge men, and their side arms, and shiv- 
ered. He believed that if the upper camp were 
met by the right man in the right spirit, a clash 
could be averted, and that sympathy for Dad 
could be made to crowd out every feeling of ani- 
mosity for the present at least. The crying need, 
then, was for a leader, a non-partisan, influential 
leader. There was just one man in Miners^ who 
might have fulfilled every requirement, and he 
lay there on his bed, dead to every call of duty. 

283 


ROSS GRANT 


No matter what opinion the miners might have 
of Dr. Scudder^s habits, Ross had noticed the in- 
voluntary tribute of awe they paid him. The 
doctor, dignified and commanding, was the man 
to meet the upper camp, but there was, as his 
assistant knew, no hope of his acting. 

The hours dragged. Ross threshed the matter 
out from every view-point he could command, 
save one. It remained for a sight of the thin and 
insignificant looking Book of Forgetfulness to pre- 
sent to him the VQxy important view-point he had 
overlooked. 

He had wandered restlessly into his room and 
stood before the shelf looking at the book as it 
lay under his comb, flanked by his hair-brush and 
tooth-brush. He thought of the entries concern- 
ing Razorback Jones. With Dad under the wreck 
of Seven, and Eight sealed by the edict of the 
Gales Ridge outfit, how futile to summon Razor- 
back. 

One thing only Fm sure of,^' Ross said aloud, 
turning away, IJl have no entries of carelessness 
to make in connection with this affair I 

Half-way across the kitchen he paused. No, he 
had been careless or forgetful in nothing con- 
nected with the affair, but was that all that the 
book stood for? He had forgotten nothing, but 
that, at best, was but negative. Was there not 
284 


IN MINERS* CAMP 


something positive that devolved on him in the 
matter? He fully realized his responsibility so 
far as his duties in the office were concerned. If 
the doctor was not able to answer any calls made 
on him, his assistant must be ready, but it had not 
occurred to him before that it might be possible 
for him to fill the doctor's place in an attempt to 
avert a crisis between the camps. The idea now 
caused him to smile sarcastically at himself as he 
passed out on the ledge. 

Who would listen to me?'' he asked himself. 

The Gales Ridge men hardly knew I was along 
to-day — except Boots. They sit up all right and 
take notice when I fix up a busted nose but, be- 
yond such work, what good do they think I am 
here?" 

Nevertheless, the idea grew on him, and its 
growth was quickened by the memory of his suc- 
cess in the matter of the letter to Kansas. It was 
also quickened by the recollection that it was 
Boots, the leader of the Gales Ridge men, who 
had given him a measure of attention in the 
midst of the excitement on Dundee. 

Again and again he went over the situation, 
asking himself not whether it was possible for 
him to get the men to listen to him, but what he 
might say that would compel them to listen. 

The question was unanswered when, late in the 
285 


ROSS GRANT 


afternoon, the Gales Ridge men came trooping up 
the trail headed for their grub shack. They came 
on wearily, thoroughly sobered and unexcited, but 
filled with baffled anger. Ross went out beyond 
Worths cabin and awaited them. He planted him- 
self doggedly in the middle of the narrow trail, 
determined to stop them at least long enough to 
tell him what they had been doing. Again it 
was Boots who first recognized his presence re- 
spectfully. 

His leading question was of Dad — and it voiced 
the remnant of a lingering hope. 

Boots worried the trail with his toe as he an- 
swered : No, Doc, ’course we hain’t run on t’ 
Dad. I guess you sort of expected ” — he broke 
off and began action with the other toe — I guess 
you think likely Dad’ll turn up yet — but — Doc, 
don’t ye hang t’ no such idee. Dad’s up yon,” 
jerking his thumb over his shoulder. He’s done 
fer. One shift’s goin’ on the job of the diggin’ as 
soon as we git some grub.” 

Well ” — Ross swallowed — what of Kansas? ” 

Boots’ toe ceased to worry the trail. His head 
came up with a jerk, and his nostrils distended 
angrily, but two deep furrows in his forehead 
showed his perplexity. 

Doc, I’ve run acrost some queer things in my 
day, but the rest was all mavericks alongside of 
286 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


this. We hain^t run on hide ner hair of ^em — ner 
their trail.” 

“ there was twelve of ^em t^ leave a trail,” 
muttered some one behind him. 

“ With one sick and one hit at that,” added a 
third. ** No easy travelin' fer them thet-a-way.” 

<< Th' ground must 'a' opened up 'n’ swallered 
^em,” declared Harve, and into his voice crept the 
same note of awe it had contained when, on Dun- 
dee, he had spoken of miracles. 

They can't make a final git-away,” declared 
Boots with angry conviction. As soon as we've 
snatched a snack of grub Harve here is goin' t' 
ride back t' the valley and ask th' ranchmen to 
come 'nd help us — dig. And the first telephone 
he comes to he'll heat up considerable tollin' the 
sheriff at Basin what's been done 'nd puttin' 'im 
on the track of the Browns — th' sheriff'll overhaul 
'em in th' state or out of it — Dad, ye know, was 
one of his deputies — and a mighty good one, was 
Dad.” 

Ye see,” Harve told Ross, “ Kansas, he can't 
have grub along to last twelve men a great while. 
And we sent some of the fellers up to the upper 
camp t' see t' it they didn't git nothin' there.” 

The upper camp I ” cried Ross. Some of our 
men in the upper camp ? Why — why — how will 
the men there like that when they come back ? ” 
287 


ROSS GRANT 


The group moved uneasily, and exchanged 
glances which were not lost on Ross. 

Boots replied shortly, If they don^t like it they 
can lump it, that’s all — takin’ up as they have 
with a murderer I ” 

Ross’s heart missed a beat. In the expressions 
before him lay the promise of an immediate clash 
with the upper camp — and Boots would be on 
hand to precipitate it, while Dr. Scudder would 
not be on hand either to curb it or to aid his as- 
sistant with the casualties. Suddenly an idea 
flashed into Ross’s mind, the answer to the ques- 
tion he had been asking himself all the afternoon. 
The idea was a sort of a connecting link between 
the various chains of reasoning he had been fol- 
lowing out so carefully. He cleared his throat 
and squared his shoulders. He pushed boldly 
into the center of the group and faced Boots, not 
as the diffident Doc Tenderfoot to whom, in the 
grave business of the day, the men had given but 
scant attention, but as the son of his father, the 
financial backer of the work on Seven. 

“ See here, men,” he began with dogged de- 
termination, ** I want you to listen to me. I have 
a right to be heard. There isn’t one of you that 
has as much interest in this whole business as I 
have — because of my father.” 

He spoke to them all, but he did not take his 
288 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


eyes from Boots. The latter glanced up in sur- 
prise, and then stood with his head bent forward 
listening. 

My father,” Ross continued with increasing 
confidence when he saw he had caught the atten- 
tion of the leader, ** has put the money into Seven 
that has pushed the work — and it^s work which 
the rest of you were depending on.” 

He paused, looking hard at Boots. 

Boots nodded, and the others followed his lead. 

You all seem to have caught on to why I^m 

here ” Ross jerked this out, and glanced from 

one to another. 

This point also impressed the men. Doc Ten- 
derfoot surely had a right to be heard in the mat- 
ter of Seven. They drew closer to him as he 
continued emphatically along one of the lines of 
reasoning he had worked out during the last anx- 
ious hours. 

** Now let's suppose for a moment that Kansas 
did set off that dynamite ” 

** An' he did ! ” interrupted Boots positively. 

Ross nodded, conceding the point for the sake 
of what he wanted to drive home. “ Well, then 
it couldn't have been known to the upper camp 
what he was going to do to-day, or else they would 
have been on hand to take his part. The upper 
camp can't know a thing of what is happening 
289 


ROSS GRANT 


here. And I bet when they find out they^ll be as 
shocked as we are and as ready to help us with 
Dad 

At this there was a stir in the group both of 
assent and remonstrance. He raised his voice, 
and reiterated emphatically : 

I tell you if they knew that explosion had 
been coming off to-day and had approved of it 
they^d have been on hand, don^t you know they 
would ? ” he appealed to Boots. “ They wouldn't 
be stopping down in the valley for another 
dance I No-sir-ee I They'd be dancing up here, 
all right, to help Kansas." 

Boots dragged off his cap and scratched his 
head. The others looked from him to Ross. 
Every one was awaiting his comment. Ross, 
noticing this, hurried on : 

Now see here," he urged, ** what we want is to 
get that mess off of Seven and get Dad’s — Dad’s 
body out right quick. How do you know that 
he’s not alive? Stranger things have happened. 
He may be in the tunnel so far back that he escaped 
the explosion, and there may be enough air to keep 
him alive. We mustn’t let anything interfere with 
the opening of the tunnel. We must use every 
man. We’ve got to have more to work, men who 
know how to dig and have the equipment to dig, 
and the fellows of the upper camp would be a 
290 


IN MINERS* CAMP 


blamed sight more useful than a lot of ranchmen 
you^d bring in from the valley. Let them stay 
down there and — and hunt for the Browns if you 

think ** He checked the doubt and hurried 

on : “ We want the upper camp’s help, and we 
can’t have it if you fellows are going to act as 
though they are all as guilty as — as Kansas. If 
you don’t let bygones be bygones with ’em until 
we get Seven uncovered the upper camp won’t 
turn in and help. Neither would you if the case 
were reversed. But I don’t believe that a man in 
the upper camp would refuse to help recover Dad’s 
body if he were asked to help in a decent spirit. 
Now do you, fellows ? ” 

The men stirred uneasily. Boots hesitated and 
frowned. 

And if you don’t get their help,” Ross began 
again earnestly, if we mix up in a fight with ’em 
now and let Dad lie there, what will the valley 
think of us — and what would we think of our- 
selves — to neglect Dad for a free-for-all fight ? It 
would be an eternal blot on us ! ” 

Boots looked at the ground. He looked across 
at Dundee. Then he looked earnestly at Ross. 

Doc, I believe you’re right — about the upper 
camp not knowin’ and all the rest. Say, boys, 
this ’s what we’ll do. I’ll ride back and meet the 
upper camp and explain. And if they’ll help and 
291 


ROSS GRANT 


agree not to feed Kansas if he^s found lurkin’ 
’round here, why — Harve,” he turned to his right 
hand man abruptly, ye can go down and git 
a-holt of the sheriff. That’s what we’d be obliged 
to do in any case. And,” grimly, “ we can let the 
rest of the job out to him safe s’ far as the Browns 
is concerned. It don’t look exactly decent, as 
Doc here says, to let anything come betwixt us 
and the findin’ of — Dad. I’ll speak the upper 
camp decent and they’ll likely help and we’ll all 
lay our grudge aside — till after Dad's found ! ” 


292 


CHAPTER XIII 


A VOICE IN THE NIGHT 

Ross paid little attention just then to Boots’ last 
remark. Despite his success he felt a bit shaky 
and frightened at his own boldness in opposing 
the mob spirit that possessed the men. 

Whew I ** he thought as he went back to the 
ledge, “ if Fd had time to think what I was about 
to do, I wouldn’t have done it probably — I’d have 
had cold feet and goose flesh instead I ” 

He felt that circumstances more than justified 
him in playing on the belief in the story circulated 
by MacFadden, if by so doing he could save the 
camps from bloodshed, and that is what he be- 
lieved that he had accomplished, at least tempo- 
rarily. Therefore, as he watched the men out of 
sight up the trail, a feeling of elation, pardonable 
elation, took possession of him. It grew with the 
moments, and inspired him with the idea of mak- 
ing, in the Book of Forgetfulness, an entry of 
achievement calculated to impress his father with 
the idea that he was learning not only to stop for- 
getting but to use his head independently. The 

293 


ROSS GRANT 


affair of the letter to Kansas had not puffed him 
up because there he had been forced to act to get 
himself personally out of a tight corner as well as 
to rescue Kansas. But in this case he had forced 
his way to the front and made good there. He 
had marshaled his forces quickly and well. He 
liad adopted a line of reasoning that had beaten 
down opposition. He had earned the right to his 
feeling of triumph. 

With intense satisfaction he took down the book 
of unsavory records and uncapped his pen. He 
wrote in the date and got as far as a good sized 
“ Then he sat gnawing the end of his pen. 
He could see his father turning the pages of that 
little book until he came to the “ head-work 
entry. He saw the eyes of the elder man sud- 
denly narrow and his chin come into prominence, 
and the sight caused the glow of self-satisfaction to 
fade gradually. A slight flush reddened his cheek 
and unconsciously his own face followed in ex- 
pression the face he w imagining. He crossed out 
the pronoun and threw . e book back on the shelf. 

Guess before blowing my own whistle Ifll wait 
until I see how the affair is coming out,^* he mut- 
tered with a sudden acquisition of common sense. 

Maybe I wonT feel so all-flred smart to-morrow 
over the matter as I do to-day I 

He wandered back to the ledge just as Boots 
294 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


and Harve rode down the trail on the bronchos 
belonging to the mining company. He stood 
watching them. Boots was on his way to speak 
decent to the men in the upper camp, and for 
the first time the other side of the matter struck 
the boy forcibly — would the upper camp speak 
decent in return ? 

“ Fm glad,^^ he concluded when Hank banged 
on the bottom of the dish-pan to call him to sup- 
per, “ that I wasii^t fool enough to make that entry, 
and in ink too, so I couldn’t rub it out easily ! ” 
As he sat down before his own plate. Hank, 
making unintelligible sounds, pointed to Mucker’s 
plate, and Ross came upright with a start. He 
had forgotten Mucker again. 

“ I don’t know where he is,’^ he told the uncom- 
prehending Hank, and not one of the men has 
spoken about him.” 

Hearing shouts on the trail past the ledge he 
raced out and yelled down at Fatty, who was lead- 
ing a working shift back to Dundee : “ Has any 
one seen anything of Mucker ? ” 

The men stopped and looked up. Every head 
expressed a negative, while Fatty replied : “ No. 
Wort is whinin’ around after him somewheres, but 
he hasn’t turned up. When did ye see ’im last ? ” 
‘‘ He was here to breakfast, and I haven’t seen 
him since.” 


295 


ROSS GRANT 


Wall, Doc, weVe combed th^ place pretty 
thorough fer Kansas, but we hain^t turned up no 
Kansas ner Mucker. He ain’t ’round. We think 
he must ’a’ went over t’ Eight this mornin’, ’nd 
when th’ Browns got out they had t’ take Mucker 
with ’em fer fear he’d give ’em away.” 

This explanation was plausible, as Kansas and 
Ross were his only refuges, and the return of his 
father to Gales Ridge, acting queer,” might have 
led him to forsake Ross for the better known 
Kansas. Ross returned to his supper with a 
growing sense of mystery over the escape of the 
Eight outfit. How could Kansas’ party possibly 
have gotten away burdened with an invalid, a 
half-wit, and a wounded man and left no foot- 
prints to point the way they had gone? Another 
thing also troubled him — who was to write to 
Nicholas Page of the tragedy ? The answer was 
apparent. He must perform that painful task 
himself, as the Pages had no relatives in Wyoming 
and no friends were nearer to both father and son 
than himself. 

For an hour after supper he attempted to write. 
He tore up sheet after sheet in the vain attempt to 
break the awful news gently. Finally he post- 
poned the dreaded task. He became possessed 
with a spirit of unrest that demanded action. He 
wandered about aimlessly from his room to the 
296 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 

oflBce, then out on the ledge and back to the doc- 
tor’s locked door. 

Finally he took his field-glass and, descending 
the side of Gales Ridge, struck out down the 
canon a few rods, across Wood River and into a 
deep gorge which cut its way into the heart of 
Dundee to afford a passage for a narrow, rushing 
stream. He had never been in this side canon 
before. He made slow progress, owing to the dif- 
ficult nature of the way. The gorge was merely a 
wide crack in the mountain. Sometimes a foot- 
hold was afforded only in projecting stones in the 
bed of the creek itself. Once he was obliged to 
climb up around a waterfall. The sides of the 
crack, which he paused every few moments to 
survey through his glass, were bare save for an 
occasional sage-brush, and inaccessible. Finally 
it dawned on him that at the right he was looking 
up at the summit from which, that very morning, 
he had looked down as he walked behind Boots 
along the edge of a gorge, on the second side of 
the trap that the Gales Ridge men w^ere beating up 
so thoroughly. 

Stupid of me ! ” he exclaimed aloud. Of 
course this is Dundee Creek I This is the very 
gorge we were looking down into I ” 

He sat down and leaned far back against a rock 
until he could sweep with his glass the summit 

297 


ROSS GRANT 


where he had walked. It looked from his present 
position more impossible even than it had looked 
from above. The perpendicular side rock over- 
hung the gorge and sent forth waterspouts from 
every crack and seam. One, some distance be- 
yond his present resting place, gushed forth with 
a greater volume than the rest, and fell some 
twenty feet into the creek with a sound like dis- 
tant thunder. He sat there looking about and 
speculating on the whereabouts of the Browns 
until darkness threatened the gorge and an ex- 
plosion from above told him that the shift under 
Fatty had commenced work on Seven. Then he 
returned to the office. 

He was not able, however, to shake off his 
uneasiness, and when, at ten o^clock, he went to 
his room, he removed only his shoes and coat 
before stretching out in his bunk. He felt that 
he ought to be able to meet any demands made on 
the office as long as his chief was ready to meet 
none. For a long time he lay staring at the half- 
sash window, that was but faintly outlined by the 
dim starlight. The moon had not yet arisen. 
Finally, he dropped into a restless sleep. He 
dreamed he was creeping along the edge of the 
precipice above Dundee Creek peering at some 
one who stood in the creek bed below. Suddenly 
he was compelled to slip over the edge, but instead 
298 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


of falling rapidly, his downward progress seemed 
to be impeded by a voice. The voice came from 
over his head, and he was clinging to it with both 
hands as to an anchor while trying to find a foot- 
hold to check his fall. 

Then the voice came nearer, and he found his 
foottiold at once. He stopped and listened, trying 
to look up at the speaker. This effort brought 
him upright in his bunk and he found a hand 
gently shaking his shoulder and a voice saying in 
a low tone : “ Doc I Doc Tenderfoot, wake up I ” 

“ All right, Kansas,’^ he replied quietly enough, 
although his heart leaped into his throat. “ Tm 
awake.” 

The hand on his shoulder tightened. “ DonT 
speak loud,” warned Kansas. “ I^m guessin* my 
life ainT worth much in camp now ? ” The re- 
mark was an interrogation. 

Ross gripped the hand on his shoulder. It^s 
worth a good deal here,” he whispered, with me.” 

There was a sound in the throat of the other as 
he returned the boy's grip. This is thankin' ye. 
Doc, fer yer good will. I come because — I trusted 
ye — Jean's arm's in a bad way.” 

Ross grabbed for his shoes. “ Where is he 
hiding ? ” 

“He ain't hidin' just now,” returned Kansas. 
“ He's out in the office with Mucker.” 

299 


ROSS GRANT 


Ross fumbled at the lacings of his shoes. 
** Mucker I Then he did go to you this morn- 
ing 

‘^Yes.^^ 

“ The men looked for him — Wort's been whin- 
ing around about him, and the men suspected he 
was with you when he didn't turn up." 

‘‘Then — they haven't suspected anything else 
about him ? " 

The constrained tone and peculiar manner in 
which this was said arrested Ross's attention as he 
arose from the fastening of his shoes. 

“Suspect — what?" he asked bluntly. 

“ Hadn't ye thought of Mucker along with th' 
work in Seven ? " 

A light flashed across Ross's mental horizon. 
He grasped Kansas' arm excitedly. “ He did it 
then, Kansas, did he ? " in a shrill whisper. 
“ Mucker — why, that's what he has meant — he 
has kept insisting that he knew where matches 
were I Then it was Mucker who blew up 
Seven." 

“ Wall — ye've said it ! " returned Kansas quietly. 
“ He done it, as he said, t' help me ! Ye see we 
talked too much before 'im about what such a lot 
of powder 'ud do t' Seven if it went off once — and 
he remembered. We never thought of 'im when 
we was gassin'." Then with no word of comment 
300 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


or blame, he added, “ I brought ^im back here. I 
guess ye can take 4m in, can't ye ? " 

“ Yes, yes," assented Ross hastily. ** I'll keep 
him with me — but the men won't believe he did 
it " 

Of course not," assented Kansas ; “ everything 
points too strong my way. Nobody'd believe he 
was smart enough to do it all by himself. He — 
but I hain't time, Doc, for much palaver. The 
Greasers — will they be safe here with your men ? " 

I think so. The Mexicans haven't been given 
much thought except as they added to the diffi- 
culty of your clearing out. Where are they, any- 
way ? " 

Hidin’," briefly. “ I'll tell ye as soon as ye 
git Jean fixed up." 

‘‘ Where is he ? " 

“ Right here — in the kitchen. I fetched 'em 
both in 'nd shut the office door. Some one might 
come in there sudden, ye know." 

Kansas moved toward the door, but Ross grasped 
his arm. It was wet, but Ross was too excited to 
notice the fact. ** Is his arm in bad shape ? The 
doctor's — laid up." 

I suspicioned that. Yes, Doc, it's in bad shape 
— and — I thought mebbe ye could dry 'im up some, 
too, before we went on." 

<< Dry " Ross began and paused aware, for 

301 


ROSS GRANT 


the first time, of the wetness of the other’s cloth- 
ing and the peculiar splash ” his shoes made at 

every step. They were water-soaked. How ” 

Ross was beginning, but Kansas had slipped into 
the kitchen. 

The boy at once put all speculation into the 
background and applied himself to the immediate 
situation. There were many things to do which 
would necessitate an activity in the shack that 
might attract the attention of any one passing be- 
tween Dundee and the Gales Ridge bunk house. 
He knew no one would sleep much that night. 
Fastening a blanket hastily over the window he 
lighted a lamp and turned it low while Kansas 
supported Jean into the room, followed by Mucker. 
When the door was closed Ross turned up the light 
and then uttered a suppressed exclamation. All 
three newcomers were water-soaked, and Jean, 
white-lipped, his face drawn with pain, was in a 
chill. 

“ Quick,” Ross directed, get his clothes off.” 

He dove into one of his suit cases and produced 
a clean flannel shirt, and slit the right sleeve. 
Then he aided Kansas in getting Jean free of his 
wet clothes and into the bunk. Little pools of 
water formed where each of the three had stood, 
and Mucker, shivering, began to whimper. Ross 
hastily flung him his overcoat in which the younger 
302 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


boy wrapped himself, while Ross, with a sinking 
heart, looked at the broken arm, inflamed, swollen 
and bloody. / 

‘‘ It was dark,*^ announced Mucker suddenly, his 
shivers ceasing. He spoke in a proud voice. They 
was a awful noise and I never cried — did I, Kansas ? 

He stood at the foot of the bunk, his eyes fixed 
on Kansas, who did not hear him, engaged as he 
was in soothing and quieting Jean whose chills 
were giving place to fever. But Jean heard. 

“ Noise ? ” gasped the sick man hoarsely. The 
world come to an end, that’s all. But I knew I was 
right. Kansas said Dad must know about it, and 
I said he couldn’t, and I was right, wasn’t I ? ” 
With his well hand he caught Kansas’ arm and 
held it in a painfully tight grasp urging, I was 
right, Kansas. Dad didn’t know — no one could 
’a’ known, because nobody found us.” 

Kansas liberated his arm and held Jean down in 
the bunk. Yes, yes,” he whispered soothingly, 
** ye’re right. If any one had ’a’ known we couldn’t 
’a’ made our get-away. Ye was right. But, Jean, 
boy, ye mustn’t talk now. No, ye must lay still. 
Yes, I know it hurts — it hurts cruel — yes, yer head 
must hurt too, but ye mustn’t give way t’ it, Jean, 
fer we’ve got t’ be gittin’ on. Jest hold strong to 
that, Jean— we must go on to-night. Yes, but 
Jean — ye don’t want t’ swing t’ the nearest tree 

303 


ROSS GRANT 


that’s big enough t’ hold yer weight, do ye ? Wall, 
hold steady, then, and let Doc examine yer arm. 
There now, bite yer lips and so keep from making 
a noise — we’ll be heard, Jean, if ye take on like 
that — ye must keep still — d’ye hear me, boy? 
D’ye understand — ye’ve got t’ keep still and let 
Doc here fix up yer arm so we can be movin’ 
on ! ” 

But Jean, sick, feverish, suffering, was beyond 
his brother’s control. He would not allow Ross to 
handle the broken and torn arm. 

He needs Dr. Scudder,” said the boy, sitting 
back on his heels, and he needs him bad.” 

His anger burned against the man of skill and 
knowledge useless behind his locked door. The 
wound evidently contained the bullet, and the em- 
bryo surgeon was helpless before the case. 

Kansas started toward the door. “ Shall I smash 
in his door. Doc, and fetch ’im out ? ” 

Ross hesitated. He’d be of no use if you did 
— for hours, that is. He’s dead drunk.” 

Kansas returned to Jean’s side. Hours is what 
counts with us now. Doc,” quietly. We can’t 
wait. Ye’ll have t’ do your best with ’im.” 

“ But — you see ” Ross was beginning when 

a look at the set face bent over the bunk silenced 
him. To himself he said, ** Jean will never travel 
far without some one that knows more than I do 

304 


IN MINERS' CAMP 


to fix that arm/^ but aloud he only said, “ Well, 

I'll get busy and do the best I can — but " 

“ That's all any one can do," Kansas interrupted. 
Ross rose. “ I'll see to getting some water heated 
and bringing in some stuff from the oflQce." 

Kansas hastily picked up Jean's shoes and turn- 
ing them over drained them. “ Hot water means 
a fire. Doc, don't it? And Jean's shoes ought t' 
be dried out. Yours won't go on 'im." 

Give 'em here," said Ross, holding out his 
hand. I'll set them in front of the oven." Then, 
** Did you all fall into Wood River? " 

Kansas shook his head. We've been in the 
wet ever since we — left Eight." 

He said nothing further, and Ross asked no 
more questions. With the shoes in his hand he 
was leaving the room when he paused, struck by a 
new difficulty. See here," he broke out, turning 
back, **Hank ought to understand what's going on, 
or he may raise a racket at the wrong time. He's 
in a bunk behind the stove, but I can't talk to 
him." 

The thing t' do," said Kansas promptly, ‘‘ is to 
git 'im in here where he can see my fingers, 'n' 
leave 'im with me a while." 

This was done as quietly as possible, while Ross 
went into the office, saw to it that the outer door 
was closed — there was no way of locking it — and 

305 


ROSS GRANT 


then, closing the door between the kitchen and 
office, he built a fire in the darkness and filled 
a kettle with water while Kansas labored satis- 
factorily with Hank^s slow understanding. 

“ I dread to tell Kansas how bad Jean^s arm 
is,*^ Ross groaned as he filled the kitchen stove 
with wood. 

When he returned to the side of the bunk, the 
wounded man frantically refused to let him touch 
the inflamed arm. In vain Kansas urged, com- 
manded and implored. Jean rolled fever-reddened 
eyes from one to the other and fought fiercely 
against the aid he was beyond understanding. 

You can see,^^ said the embryo surgeon finally, 
** I must cleanse the wound, and he won^t let me 

touch it unless ” 

Yes — well ? Kansas spoke steadily. 

** I must give him a hypodermic.^’ 

All right,” readily. “ Why not ? ” 

Ross faltered and looked down. ** In order to 
quiet him enough so he will let me handle that 
arm ” — he spoke haltingly — I must give him a 
pretty big dose 

** So much the better,” interrupted Kansas ; 
^*that will make travelin’ easier fer ’im.” 

Ross drew a long breath. But you see it may 
— it may ” 

He stopped abruptly. He lacked the courage 
306 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


to tell Kansas that the dose would make immedi- 
ate traveling impossible for Jean. He hadn’t the 
heart to finish. He picked up the syringe. The 
arm must be attended to at all hazards. He would 
fix that up to the best of his ability. Further 
than that his thoughts did not push. 

The hypodermic was administered and the arm 
cleansed and bandaged. But as Ross worked 
Kansas saw with painful clearness the thing that 
Ross dreaded to tell him. It whitened his face, 
but did not disturb the steadiness of his hands nor 
put tremors into his low voice. Occasionally, Ross 
glanced at him furtively, wondering how far his 
thoughts had taken him toward the heart of the 
dilemma and its solution. 

Doc,” said the latter finally, Jean’s gone to 
sleep fer the night, ain’t he ? ” 

Ross nodded. “ Pretty nearly. I had to give 
him a good-sized dose, as I told you, to keep him 
quiet.” 

“ ’N’ when he wakes up ” Kansas began 

and then his voice trailed off into a mutter, “ He’s 

a pretty sick man ’n’ ” 

Ross, bending over the end of a bandage, did 
not look up at him. For a moment there was 
silence in the room. Mucker had seated himself 
at the end of the bunk, and resting his head 
against it had gone to sleep. On the shelf behind 

307 


ROSS GRANT 


them, beside the Book of Forgetfulness, the hands 
of a nickel clock pointed to midnight. 

Ross carefully arranged a sling for Jean^s arm. 
Acting at the request of Kansas he had fixed the 
wounded man ready for traveling, knowing that 
travel was out of the question. 

Well,’' he whispered finally, “ I’ve done all I 
can do.” 

He arose and faced Kansas, his eyes interroga- 
tion marks. 

Kansas stood beside the bunk staring down at 
Jean’s fever-red face, his own contracted in a des- 
perate effort to decide on his course. From Dun- 
dee sounded another explosion, marking the 
progress of the night shift. Ross, startled, stepped 
back and came against the shelf, hitting something 
with his elbow. It fell to the floor. He stooped 
and picked up the thin Book of Forgetfulness. It 
lay open at the large I ” which he had with such 
pride written so recently and so recently sensibly 
crossed out. He laid the book on the shelf and 
turned his back on it in sudden repugnance. Al- 
ready he was backing out of the job of using his 
head ! He glanced at Kansas, who had dropped 
his chin on his chest and clenched his hands by 
his sides. Kansas needed help. He evidently 
had. thought of no way out. A head was certainly 
needed, a head that could plan and plan quickly. 

308 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


Ross turned again to the little book. Not many 
hours ago it had inspired him to useful thought. 

A quick movement behind him and a whispered 
ejaculation caused him to whirl with a hopeful 

cry : “ Have you got it, Kansas 

A quick Sh I ” cut his loud speech off. He 
had forgotten the necessity for silence. 

The next instant Kansas had blown out the 
light, and was whispering rapidly : “ Some one^s 
in the office. Hear the rap on the doctor^s door ? 
Quick — off with yer shoes as though ye was just 
out of yer bunk.’' 

Ross dropped to the floor and pulled off one 
shoe while Kansas pulled at the other. It was 
the work of only a moment to remove them. 

** There now,” Kansas’ whisper was in his ear, 
they’re headed this way. Go — ’nd act sleepy I ” 
The boy’s heart was pounding in anything but 
a sleepy manner, but he threw open his door 
noisily and said confusedly, What’s up ? ” 

Some one had opened the kitchen door and was 
groping his way forward. ‘‘I heard ye talkin’. 
Is Dr. Scudder with ye ? ” 

Ross’s tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth, 
but Kansas’ Arm hand gripped his shoulder and 
Kansas’ whisper breathed in his ear, ^^You — talk — 
irn — yer — sleep ! ” Then the hand pushed him out 
into the kitchen. 

309 


ROSS GRANT 


The intruder, who was Fatty, struck a match 
and holding it above his head looked at the boy 
asking again, Is the doctor with ye ? 

Ross blinked at the match. “ Nope,^^ he man- 
aged to get out. 

But I heard ye 

** Aunt Anne,” interrupted Ross truthfully, 

has always said I talk in my sleep.” Then 
rapidly, The doctor's in his room. Maybe you 

can wake him up, but I've not been able to ” 

Huh I Doped as usual ! Wall, it's somethin' 
ye can attend to — I've just drove a full size tree 
into my hand and I can't git the end out.” 

Ross lighted the lamp in the office and looked 
at Fatty's hand. There was an ugly sliver driven 
deep into the fleshy part of the thumb. The boy 
got a lance, turpentine and bandages from the 
medicine cupboard and turning up the light until 
it smoked began his task. All the time he was at 
work he was talking with Fatty, but subconsciously 
he was admiring the quick thought of Kansas. 

” I came within one of giving the thing dead 
away I ” he thought, and that just when I was 
trying to think how I could save the situation.” 

He had removed the main part of the sliver and 
was going after the deeply imbedded end when 
Fatty's glance chanced to wander to the floor. 

“Huh I” he ejaculated curiously. “Looks as 
310 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


though ye had turned the Missoury River through 
this room, mud hi' all I What's doin' ? " 

Ross's tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth 
and his hair stirred. So completely was he taken 
by surprise that every idea deserted him, and he 
did, unintentionally, the very best thing possible 
under the circumstances. The lance slipped, bed- 
ded itself in Fatty's sensitive flesh and with a loud 
Ouch — gee whiz, Doc I " the injured man forgot 
the floor with its pools of water and mud. 

Ross, quick to see the result of his unprofessional 
nervousness, hurried the end of the sliver out of 
the wound, disinfected the hand and bandaged it. 
Then, while Fatty's lips were still pressed together 
in a heroic efibrt to ignore the pain, Ross turned 
to the lamp and blew it out, saying at once, as 
though the action were due to thoughtlessness : 

'' Well, there ! What did I do that for before 
you got out ? Guess I need to get a little more 
sleep ! " 

Never mind I " rejoined Fatty amiably. 
Here’s the door. I'm all right. Moon'll be 
up in a little while." 

Ross, drawing long breaths of relief, followed 
Fatty out on the ledge. He saw the latter had 
not given another thought to the condition of the 
office floor. He was walking, sure footed, across 
the ledge toward Wort's cabin. The night was 

311 


ROSS GRANT 


densely dark. The stars did not light the black 
depths of the canon. Fatty made his way by a 
sense of direction rather than sight, as he had 
brought no light along, not even a miner^s candle. 

“ You canT find your way back,^^ Ross called. 

“ Huh I responded Fatty, ‘‘ I can travel this 
trail with my eyes blindfolded and my hands 
roped behind me I Good thing I can,^^ he added, 
“ fer this ledge here is a regular man-trap, only it's 
fixed proper fer keepin' folks out as well as in I " 

Ross hardly heard the remark at first. He 
stood waiting merely to make sure that Fatty was 
not coming back before he returned to the lean-to. 
He listened until the man’s steps died away in the 
distance and then turned back to the ofl&ce door. 
There he found himself repeating absently Fatty’s 
last words. 

He uttered an exclamation and stopped. The 
sentence repeated itself again. The side of the 
mountain flashed on his mental sight, the ledge 

isolated by its position — the trail — the shack 

So it is I ” he whispered excitedly. Why, so 
it is ! Fatty’s right.” 

He made his way to the door of the lean-to and 
threw it open whispering excitedly, Kansas, I’ve 
got it I I’ve got it I The place where you can 
hide best and be safest — you and Jean — is right 
here in this room I ” 


312 


CHAPTER XIV 


A STKANGE TKAIL 

** Here I whispered Kansas thickly. In this 
room ? Safe here ? ” 

Ross hastily pointed out the advantages of the 
plan in the situation of the shack, isolated on the 
ledge, and of the room itself. ‘‘And Jean can^t 
travel, anyway,*' he added, “ and you can't carry 
him far." 

“ That's so. Doc. Ye're right — but what about 
you — if they should suspicion that you helped 
us " 

Eagerly Ross explained that suspicion would 
not easily attach to him because the Gales Ridge 
men believed he was in camp for the purpose of 
running Kansas out. “ It's the last place in the 
Union where they'd suspect you were." 

Kansas scratched his head and lighting the 
lamp again looked at Jean. 

“ Another thing," insisted Ross, “ you must have 
a competent physician within twenty-four hours 
or — well, your brother will " he ended ab- 

ruptly. 

313 


ROSS GRANT 


** Pass in his checks/^ finished Kansas quietly, 
in the vernacular of the mountains. Then, after 
a pause, “ Yes, Doc, I may as well give up the 
idee of gittin' Jean out of here fer a day ^r two — 
but it's goin' t' be hard t' manage — 'nd I don't 
think it can be managed I " 

To-morrow," Ross promised easily, ** I'll have 
Dr. Scudder on deck ready for work if I have 
to " — here the last phrase he had heard the doctor 
use occurred to him — “ if I have to rope him and 
brand him and compel him to quit I And then 
with both of us to work things outside and you 
in here it can be managed, I tell you — it must 
be." 

In the end his reasoning prevailed. It would 
certainly be the last place in the state where the 
Gales Ridge men would expect to find the man 
they had sworn to take vengeance on, and the 
room was ideally situated for the purpose to which 
Ross proposed to put it. The office and the doc- 
tor's room faced the accessible end of the ledge. 
From the office a door led into the large room 
which served as kitchen and dining-room and also 
contained Hank's bunk. Between Ross's room, a 
lean-to and the office, lay this kitchen. The 
lean-to, although uncomfortably small to hold 
two men, looked down seventy-five feet from its 
only window, being built on the edge of the ledge. 

314 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


The window, furthermore, looked along an unin- 
habited expanse of mountainside covered with 
sage-brush and rocks. 

“ But what about the Mexicans ? ” asked Ross 
suddenly. I had forgotten them. Where are 
they ? WonT they give you away ? 

Kansas was standing in the middle of the floor 
in deep thought. At first he merely shook his 
head. Then he replied slowly, I can git around 
them all right. But, Doc, there^s somethin' that 
puzzles me — 'nd frets me too. I can’t put it off 
any longer with Jean here quiet. I want t’ 
ask ” 

‘‘ Well?” 

Kansas hesitated. “ Even if yer father did 
back Dad, there can’t be any harm now in an- 
swerin’ ” 

** My father’s being interested doesn’t have any 
weight with me, as I told you the other night,” 
Ross interrupted impatiently. His interest is 
only financial. Trot out your questions ” 

Kansas drew a long breath. “ Is Dad’s men 
back?” 

** Yes, every man of ’em.” 

“Was they along when ye come up after the 
explosion?” Kansas’ tone showed utter incre- 
dulity. 

“ Of course they were.” 

315 


ROSS GRANT 


^^And didn’t none of ’em say they suspected 
where we was ? ” 

Ross was surprised at the question. They said 
most emphatically that they didn’t suspect and 
couldn’t guess. They’ve searched the mountains 
for you. Your get-away is a nine days’ wonder to 
us all. How did you work it ? ” 

But Kansas, his forehead furrowed in a deep 
frown of perplexity, merely muttered, Jean had 
it figgered out right then, but I can’t hardly be* 
lieve it yet.” 

Believe what ? ” 

Believe that neither Dad ner his men found 
what they’d run onto. Say, Doc, can ye tell me 
this? Have ye heard any mention from — well, 
from Dad himself, seein’ ye was friends with him, 
about findin’ anything uncommon in the tunnel 
at Seven, say, within the last three weeks ? ” 

‘‘ Not a word,” declared Ross. ** And he has 
talked with me freely about Seven.” 

‘‘Jean is right, then,” declared Kansas with 
growing conviction. “ He had a the’ry that if any 
of Dad’s men knew MacFadden would have found 
out about it, and as Mac didn’t say anything to us 
we reckoned he didn’t know, and so no one 
knew.” 

“ I wish you’d stop talking like a Chinese puz- 
zle ” 

316 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


Yes, yes, Doc,'* Kansas interrupted, Fll tell 
ye — but I'm all mixed up over it. I don't know 
what t' think — 'r do." 

** I don't know what you're driving at," retorted 
Ross, ** but you're not the only one that hasn't 
known what to think or to do to-day. You had 
every one guessing when you disappeared over that 
ledge, I tell you, and the earth opened and swal- 
lowed you I " 

Kansas smiled faintly. He passed his hand over 
his eyes and spoke absently. The earth didn't 
swallow us, but the tunnel did." 

** The tunnel I " Ross's tone was incredulous. 
** Did you go into the tunnel ? " 

‘‘ Yes — that was Jean's idee " 

But the tunnel was blown up. How did you 
get out ? " 

** Walked out." 

Ross shook Kansas' arm excitedly. What 
are you talking about, Kansas? I was in the 
tunnel myself— clear to the end. You were not 
there." 

Doc," exclaimed Kansas, we was there right 
behind a bit of new timberin'. There's where 
Jean's reasonin' come in. I follered Jean. We 
grabbed up Rodrigo and a rope 'nd axe and a few 
things 'nd hiked into that tunnel. I never ex- 
pected t' come out alive — but Jean did — and Jean 

317 


ROSS GRANT 


proved right. It was our only way, anyhow, fer it 
didn’t take more’n a glance t’ show us we was cut 
off by the Gales Ridge fellers climbin’ up acrost 
Dundee and cutting us off there.” 

“ If only I knew what you are talking about I ” 
exclaimed Ross helplessly. 

'' Doc,” said Kansas, lifting his head as though 
he had arrived at some decision, I’ll tell ye about 
it on our way over. I’ve been thinkin’. We’ve 
got t’ hurry. There’s somethin’ t’ be done besides 
goin’ after the Greasers, and I guess you’ll have t’ 
help. Can we both leave Jean? ” 

Ross went over to the bunk. “ I guess he’s in 
for quite a sleep.” 

“ All right then. We’ll go ’nd get the Greasers 
— and do a little lookin’ fer Dad ourselves.” 

Dad I ” Ross whirled toward the speaker. 

Do you know where Dad is ? ” 

Nope, but we can soon find out whether he’s in 
his tunnel or not.” 

“ But,” cried Ross stupidly, we can’t get into 
Seven ! ” 

“ Jest what we can do, and that easy,” retorted 
Kansas. 

For an instant Ross stared wordlessly at Kansas. 
Then light broke in on him of Dad’s theory of the 
cause underlying the explosion that had been heard 
so plainly in Seven. '^Then,” he said slowly, 
318 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


“ you did run a tunnel between Seven and Eight, 
didn't you?" 

“ No," returned Kansas, I hain't, but Natur 
has. Now, Doc, let's git busy, and I'll explain as 
we hike along." 

He paused and looked the boy over. ** Got a 
slicker ? " 

Ross stepped to a nail in the side logs and took 
down a water-proof coat and donned it. 

‘‘ Rubber boots ? " asked Kansas. 

In reply Ross bent and fished a pair out from 
under the bunk and put them on. 

That's better," approved Kansas. Ye're bound 
t' git as wet as we are without 'em, and we can't 
have too many wet things bangin' around the 
stove." 

Ross nodded, thinking of the wet floor of the 
office, and Fatty's powers of observation. 

** Now," Kansas went on, “ we need candles 'nd 
an axe — we didn't fetch but one away from Eight 
— 'nd a blanket-^in case we find — him — 'nd can 
carry 'im away." 

In a few minutes they were feeling their way 
quietly down the side of Gales Ridge, their pockets 
filled with candles, Ross bearing the blanket and 
Kansas the axe. When Kansas, w*ho led, reached 
the stage trail he turned down the canon and hur- 
ried forward. Presently they heard voices and 

319 


ROSS GRANT 


slipped behind a rock, while two Gales Ridge men 
passed them talking angrily against Kansas and 
what they would have done had they caught 
him. 

Wall,^^ one of them exclaimed, “ we may run 
acrost his trail yet. Stranger things have hap- 
pened. And if we do — wall — it'll be a life fer a 
life." 

** But the Greasers," said his companion care- 
lessly. It's a pity he took the Greasers with 'im. 
They'd come in right handy on the diggin' in 
Seven." 

As the two passed out of hearing Ross whispered : 
** That's what I told you — the men don't lay any- 
thing up against the Mexicans." 

We'll bring 'em down, then," said Kansas, 
** and ye can turn 'em in to the work." 

Ross, suppressing with difficulty a dozen ques- 
tions, arose from his uncomfortable crouching po- 
sition behind the rock and was starting on when 
Kansas caught his arm and pulled him back. 

“ Listen," he muttered. Some one else is 
cornin'." 

At first Ross heard nothing, but soon there 
reached his ears the rattle of wheels and excited 
voices. It was the upper camp returning with 
Boots and Harve. They came in two crowded 
wagons furnished by some ranchmen of the valley. 

320 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


They had evidently broken off in the midst of a 
celebration and responded willingly to the call for 
help from the rival camp. As the wagons rattled 
past, the listeners heard some one say : 

I didn^t think that of Kansas — I thought he^d 
fight in the open. Wall — as Boots says, th* thing 
now is t^ find Dad^s body. After that,'^ signifi- 
cantly, we can settle them little boundary lines 
as we want ’em settled I ” 

Ross felt Kansas wince at the reference to him- 
self, but all he said when they were again alone 
was, “ Wall, they’ve gone back on me, but the 
quarrel between the camps is jest asleep. It’ll 
wake up as soon as Dad is found ’r known about 
in any way. Down in Meeteetse there was so much 
goin’ on and the town was so full there wasn’t any 
quarrelin’ between camps. At least the Greasers 
said there wa’n’t. But it’s bound t’ break out up 
here — without me to hold my party back — or Dad 
to hold.” 

Presently they crept out from behind cover, 
and stole quietly again a few rods further down 
the canon, then across a crude bridge built of tree 
trunks, and struck into the same gorge Ross had 
visited only a few hours before. 

Dundee Creek,” he muttered. ** I’m glad the 
moon is coming up. It’s rough traveling here.” 

Although but little moonlight penetrated to the 
321 


ROSS GRANT 


bottom of the deep gorge, that little enabled them 
to find their way past the spot where Ross had 
stopped and on to the foot of the larger stream 
which he had noticed bursting from the side of the 
perpendicular wall twenty feet overhead. To his 
surprise, Kansas led the way around the pool into 
which this cascade fell, and instead of continuing 
up the creek, turned in under the waterfall. 

Why,^^ gasped the boy, raising his voice to be 
heard above the thunder of falling water, we canT 
climb this wall I ” 

Hain’t got to,'^ answered Kansas. We're 
goin' through it ! " 

Through it I " panted Ross. ** Through it I " 

Kansas put out his hand and groped along the 
wet rock until he found what he sought. For a 
moment Ross could not see what he was holding, 
as the moonlight scarcely penetrated this retreat. 
They stood on wet, slippery rocks with their backs 
to the dripping side of the cliff*, while over their 
head the water leaped outward from the wall and 
fell beyond them with a sound out of all propor- 
tion to its volume. 

“ We're goin' back to Eight and Seven," Kansas 
said, his mouth close to Ross's ear. We're goin' 
in the way we come out." 

Here he stepped back, and Ross, his eyes accus- 
tomed to the dim light, saw that he held the end 
322 



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IN MINERS' CAMP 


of a ropo which was swaying beside the dripping 
rock, reaching down from the blackness overhead. 
Kansas brought it forward and knotted it beneath 
the boy^s armpits. Then he jerked it three times 
and Ross found himself ascending slowly, gliding 
up against the slimy wall until he was pulled into 
an open space at the head of the waterfall beside a 
stunted pine that had thrust its roots into the dirt- 
filled crevices of the rock. His damp back was as- 
sailed by a steady outrush of air. About him were 
the dark forms of the Mexicans, and their jabbering 
voices, raised in astonishment when they saw that 
the newcomer was not Kansas. 

With numb fingers Ross untied the rope about 
him and handed the end to one of the men, at the 
same time motioning below. 

The other nodded and cast the coil down again. 
Then, while Ross crawled away from the dizzying 
edge, the Mexicans laid hold of the rope and pulled 
again until they brought Kansas into view. He 
talked with the men for a few moments in their 
own language and then spoke to Ross. 

Doc, we'll light up after we've got a little inf 
the crevice so the light won't shine out against the 
opposite wall of the gorge. Can't be too careful. 
Here — give me yer arm. Ye don't know the way." 

Where are we ? " 

We're in a seam 'r crevice through the moun- 

323 


ROSS GRANT 


tain. These peaks are full of ^em. Guess ye must 
*a^ run on some yerself.*^ 

‘‘ I have.’^ 

Wall, this is a full sized one. I suspect they 
start as little cracks and then the water dreens int* 
’em and cuts ’em down ’n’ washes ’em out until 
they’re good sized tunnels. We didn’t know noth- 
ing about this one till th’ morning before the Fourth 
when Jean was on shift. He put a shot and bust 
int’ this ” 

“ Oh I ” cried Ross, I was there, at Eight, you 
know, at the time — Jean came out of the tunnel 
looking pretty excited — was this what he had 
found ? I thought probably he had burst into a 
pocket of good ore.” 

This was it. He come after me ’nd we done 
a little explorin’. I thought, of course, that Dad 
knew all about the crack and was jest waitin’ fer 
us t’ open th’ tunnel int’ it and then he could take 
a sneak int’ our tunnel ’n’ see what grade of ore 
we was a-handlin’ ” 

“But Dad didn’t know anything about it,” 
Ross interrupted. 

“ Wall, that was th’ conclusion Jean come to, 
but I didn’t believe him at the time.” Here 
Kansas hesitated. “ ’Twas a good thing I didn’t 
believe ’im ’r we wouldn’t be alive now.” 

“ How's that?” 

324 


THE NATURAL TUNNEL OONNEOTINa THE TWO CLAIMS 


IN MINERS’ CAMP 




ROSS GRANT 


** Why, I was so sure that Dad could walk into 
Eight by th^ back door, so to speak, that I insisted 
on stoppin' work 'n' takin^ th* shift 'n^ goin^ after 
timber. That was the third. ’N’ then all day the 
Fourth Jean and me timbered in th' tunnel. We 
timbered solid on th^ side of this here crevice 
openin^ toward Seven. But, lucky fer us, we^d 
jest set the timbers in place on th^ side of th^ 
crevice lookin’ this way. So when we made our 
get-away all we had t’ do was t’ pull out a couple 
of timbers, crawl through ’n’ then hold ’em back 
in position while th’ Gales Ridge men come 
a-streamin’ in t’ make sure we wa’n’t there. Then 
after th’ mouth of th’ tunnel was Mowed up we 
come down here t’ the openin’ ’n’ waited till night. 
We’ll light up now.” 

When Ross had lighted his candle he raised it, 
scanning with interest the smooth sides and ragged 
dripping roof of the rocky seam. It was seven or 
eight feet high at this point, a drainage for a vast 
area of Dundee. Everywhere from the roof and 
sides the water dripped and oozed, splashing into 
the stream that flowed swiftly ankle deep toward 
the opening. 

“ This seam,” Kansas explained, “ runs through 
the mountain, clean through the tunnel at Eight 
and on t’ Seven. But while at Eight it’s on the 
same level as our tunnel, at Seven it runs under 
326 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


the tunnel so that the roof of the crevice is the 
floor of Dad^s tunnel. His is on a level a few 
feet above ours.^^ 

** If that^s so/^ ejaculated Ross, it would ac- 
count for Dad's men hearing a shot put in your 
tunnel I It must have been the blast that broke 
you through into the crevice. It gave them a 
great start and bothered Dad." 

Ross related what Dad had told him the morn- 
ing of the third as they stood on the Dundee trail 
looking at Eight. 

Kansas had no time for further explanation, as 
they were confronted now by a row of timbers set 
close together across the passage. This was the 
entrance to Eight. Kansas pushed aside the tim- 
bers which he had held in place when he entered 
the crevice, and the party flled across the width 
of the tunnel in silence. While Kansas with a 
few blows of the axe dislodged a timber on the 
opposite side Ross peered toward the ruined mouth 
of the tunnel, but could see nothing. The air, 
however, despite the natural tunnel, was bad. As 
soon as Kansas had dislodged the timber they 
pushed through the opening and hastened up the 
crevice toward Seven. They went the rest of the 
way with candles lifted to show them where to 
dodge and stoop, for the roof was more jagged 
and uneven here, and lower. Finally Kansas, who 

327 


ROSS GRANT 


was in the advance, stopped and lowered his 
candle with a brief, “ We’re here. Now fer git- 
tin’ in.” 

Ross looked up. Directly overhead was a tim- 
bered space, the roof of the crevice which was the 
floor of Dad’s tunnel. As he saw the situation, 
the crevice open and accessible to Seven, with only 
a few timbers between, the same question occurred 
to him which had troubled Kansas : How could 
Dad — how could any one who worked in Seven — 
and had put those timbers down to tramp over, 
avoid a knowledge of that seam, that way to the 
open from the tunnel above ? 

Kansas gave a few orders to the Mexicans, 
handed over the axe to the strongest, and stepped 
back. Ross followed him. 

“ Doc, can ye see how it come about that no one 
in Seven knows anything about this here run- 
way ? ” he asked. 

** No, I don’t. It seems as if they must know, 
and yet I believe, from all Dad said, they don’t.” 

** See here.” Kansas lowered his candle. “ See 
all this mess underfoot. It was from this that 
Jean flgured out th’ truth. Jean has a long head.” 

Ross looked. He had been stumbling over 
broken stones without noticing them. 

Jean convinced me,” Kansas continued, “and 
it must ’a’ been this way. When th’ shot was put 
328 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


up above us that opened up this roof, it not only 
made the hole but poured enough rock down here 
so the hole was stopped up. Now the men up 
above jest noticed when they went to cleanin* 
away the muss of the shot that the floor was sort 
of uncertain, like the sides is in places, showin* 
dirt and stone mixed instead of a solid rock floor, 
and they had to have a solid floor fer the rails t' 
run th^ hand-car over. So they jest leveled off th^ 
floor over th^ heap of muck and rock and laid 
th^ timbers down. Then the water begun t’ git 
in its work down here under the mess that had 
stopped up th’ hole. See?'' He lowered the 
candle to the shallow but swift stream. It begun 
t' wash away th' muck and rock little by little, 
makin' the pile sink down away from the timbers 
until there wa’n’t nothin' left but these heavy 
rocks that th' water can't budge. And fer a month 
'r more th' men up there in Seven have been goin' 
back 'nd forth over them timbers without dreamin’ 
that they was walkin' over a crack in th' mountain 
that would 'a' took 'em right through Eight t' 
Dundee Creek." 

'' Would it — could it have done Dad any good 
if he had known ? " asked Ross, but his voice was 
lost in the noise caused by the Mexicans, who were 
working at the logs overhead. 

For a few minutes no one spoke, and Ross, his 

329 


ROSS GRANT 


thoughts focussed now solely on Dad and Dad’s 
probable fate, held his candle aloft in a shaking 
hand. Finally the Mexicans, chopping at a dis- 
advantage from below, got one log cut through. 
The ends sagged, and there was a rush of dirt 
from above, followed by a rush of foul imprisoned 
air. The men, laying hold of the ends, pulled 
them down, leaving an opening large enough to 
admit Kansas. Climbing to the shoulders of the 
choppers he crawled through the opening. A 
dozen candles were raised to him, but they only 
served to show the pallor of his face as he looked 
down and refused them with a wave of his hand. 

He’s right here,” he said in a quiet voice, 
face down on the logs. It’s the best place fer air 
that he could ’a’ got if he’d been choosin’. But 
it’s no ways likely he was choosin’ — and I dunno 

— whether he needs — air ” 

It was only the work of a few moments for Kan- 
sas to lower Dad, and for Ross to ascertain beyond 
a doubt that he still lived. It was a more arduous 
task to get him to the mouth of the crevice, but 
Kansas, although a more slender man than the 
other, bore him on his shoulders, steadied and sup- 
ported on either side by Ross and one of the Mexi- 
cans. At the mouth of the crevice the entire 
party were lowered, by means of the rope, to the 
canon of Dundee Creek. Ross was let down first, 

330 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


and then the unconscious Dad, well wrapped in 
the blankets which Kansas had caused Ross to 
provide for that very purpose. Kansas came 
last. 

Better leave two of the men to get Rodrigo up 
to the ledge the best way they can,’^ Ross urged, 
** and hurry Dad along. I don't know what’s the 
matter. Maybe it’s asphyxiation and shock, and 
maybe internal injuries.” 

Ross spoke buoyantly, for it seemed to him that 
with Dad found alive the end of their difficulties 
was in sight. Kansas nodded and spoke to the 
Mexicans. Then he superintended cutting and 
trimming long spruce limbs. Over these he 
rolled the sides of Dad’s blanket, forming an easy 
litter on which to carry him. Then, with four 
Mexicans grasping the ends of the poles, the pro- 
cession started on its difficult way toward Wood 
River canon. 

During this slow, wordless process, Ross had 
time to notice that the finding of Dad had not 
relieved Kansas’ face of its harassed expression. 
This, however, he attributed to worry over Jean’s 
condition, and as they approached the wagon trail 
began in his naturally loud voice : 

“ I think Jean will ” 

A sharp Sh ! ” and a grasp on his arm both 
stopped and astonished him. His voice sank to a 

331 


ROSS GRANT 


whisper, however, as he asked : What's the need 
for secrecy now, with Dad here and alive ? " 

Kansas stood still. He laid a hand on Ross's 
shoulder and murmured haltingly, I've seen. 
Doc, that ye think finding him gits us all out of 
this mess." 

Of course," Ross began. ** I've been so glad to 
find that Dad lives — he isn't as much alive as I 
wish he were, but when we get Dr. Scudder on the 
job " 

But there's somethin' of a stretch in between," 
Kansas interrupted, “ that I guess ye hain't looked 
at — I've been lookin' at nothin' else since we left 
Seven." 

Oh I " muttered Ross as Kansas paused. The 
situation began to shape itself for him vaguely. 
Half-difficulties flitted through his mind — but 
Dad was still alive. That was the only thing that 
counted now, and Kansas was safe. 

But Kansas' steady murmur shattered this idea 
of safety rudely. Doc, I went after Dad with my 
eyes wide open, knowin' that if we got 'im dead 
'r alive, it 'ud mix things up here more'n ever." 

Ross stared at the other uncomprehendingly. 

Kansas raised a foot to the rock and rested an 
elbow on his knee. 

“ Doc, I guess ye don't see what a hole we're in 
— and not only Jean and me, but the two camps." 
332 


CHAPTER XV 


THE HOENS OF THE DILEMMA 

** Well, no I exclaimed Ross. “ I don’t see — 
with Dad found ” 

WeTl have t’ stop here a minute and talk it 
over.” Kansas spoke slowly in order to bring the 
truth home to Ross. “ I can’t see our way out, 
Doc — I’ve got t’ have yer head in on this.” 

Ross squared his shoulders unconsciously. 

** Wall, now,” Kansas went on, ** I’ve been 
thinkin’ this way : here’s Dad. Suppose we take 
’im up in on th’ ledge and put him som’ers in the 
doctor’s shack ” 

Ross nodded hopefully. ‘‘Yes, we’ll find a 
place ” 

“ But that’s not the point. See here. Suppose 
ye let th’ Gales Ridge men know that he’s found 
— that’s yer idee, ain’t it ? ” 

Ross’s eyes opened widely. “ Yes, all I’ve 
thought was how glad they’d be to know.” 

“ But see here I D’ye recall what the men said 
on th^ wagon that passed us — that after Dad was 
333 


ROSS GRANT 


found they^d turn to and settle the score of th* 
boundary with th^ fellers they^re helpin^ now.” 

Oh ! ” exclaimed Ross, and each letter was 
long drawn. 

** Ye see, don^t ye ? Now if we take ’im up there 
and let th^ boys know that he^s found, both parties, 
of course, will stop diggin’ — therell be nothin^ 

more t^ dig fer, and then ” 

They^ll go to fighting I ” added Ross. 

That’s it. Ye see what I mean. And here’ll 
be Dad not alive enough t’ act as a brake on 
the Gales Ridge men. It’ll be hours before Mr. 
Scudder’ll be on the job to see t’ Dad, and in th’ 
meantime th’ shack’ll be a trompin’ ground fer th’ 
Gales Ridge men, and ” 

Kansas came to an abrupt stop, but Ross, his 
attention fully arrested, leaped at the end of the 
sentence. And with the house filled with Gales 
Ridge men — there’s Jean, maybe so delirious we 
can’t keep him still — and you — at the mercy of 
the men — no, that will never do.” 

Kansas stood straight and the two gazed at each 
other steadily. Ross was the first to speak, but it 
was a hesitating speech. “ Couldn’t we make a 
place in ray room for Dad — it would be full to 
overfiowing with four shut in where one should 
be ” 

Kansas took a swift step forward and clutched 
334 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


Rosses arm in his strength of a new idea. “ Doc, 
ain't Mr. Scudder's door always kept shut 'n' 
locked ? " 

Always.'' 

Well, see here. What's th' matter with this? 
Put Dad in th' doctor's room and keep the door 
shut as usual. Don't let the men know anything 
about 'im. Let 'em go on diggin' up at Seven. 
That'll keep the camp from fightin', and give us a 
few hours — 'r days," with a glance at Dad's un- 
conscious form, t' think things out 'nd git Jean 
out of danger and away from Gales Ridge. I can 
tell th' Greasers what t' do, and I can manage 
Mucker." 

Ross seized Kansas' hand. ‘‘ You've hit it ! " 
he whispered excitedly. “ That's the very thing. 
That's the way to work it I We'll hide Dad for a 
while." 

The manifest admiration in his tones brought a 
pleasant smile to Kansas' face as he returned the 
hand-clasp. Then he turned and spoke to the 
Mexicans. Next, with a word to Ross, he disap- 
peared into the stage trail to see if the way was 
clear. While he was gone Ross bent over the un- 
conscious man again. 

Poor old Dad," he whispered. ** I never 
thought that finding you was going to make 
things worse all the way around — and Kansas 
335 


ROSS GRANT 


might just as well have kept still and not raised a 
hand to rescue you — only that’s not Kansas ! ” 

Now that Ross was awake to the new conditions, 
his thoughts leaped ahead and he saw that, while 
the plan proposed by Kansas presented many 
present difiSculties and abounded in promises of 
future complications, it seemed the most feasible 
way out of immediate dangers. There was no 
time to spend, however, in discussing details. 
When Kansas returned he talked again to the 
Mexicans and then one of them went back to re- 
peat his directions to those left behind with Rod- 
rigo, while Ross took his place as burden bearer 
and Kansas kept ahead to assure them of a clear 
coast. This was made easier by the dense banks 
of clouds that had rolled over the canon, darken- 
ing the moon. It was three o’clock in the morn- 
ing, and a cold rain had commenced to fall. 

Ross removed his slicker and threw it over 
Dad. Then he climbed Gales Ridge, his thoughts 
going forward uneasily to the room with the 
locked door. Thoughts of the action necessary to 
gain an entrance to that room caused him to 
swallow repeatedly. He still stood in awe of Dr. 
Scudder. 

Gales Ridge was apparently uninhabited, and 
the party reached the shack on the ledge without 
having been discovered. They laid Dad on the 
33b 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


floor of the office, wrapped blankets about him 
and then Kansas, not daring to trust the Mexicans 
with the secret of his hiding-place, shook hands 
with them gravely and pointing with many gestic- 
ulations toward the summit of the ridge, disap- 
peared in the darkness. His employees looked 
after him uncertainly. They did not know that 
Jean was inside the shack. They supposed that 
Kansas had him in hiding some place beyond 
Gales Ridge and that Kansas had gone now to 
join him. They would have liked to go also, but 
were restrained by the fact that the mountains 
aflbrded no food, and Kansas had assured them of 
food and safety if they but followed his directions. 
Therefore, when they could hear his footsteps no 
longer, they retraced their steps down the trail in 
accordance with the commands he had given them. 

As soon as they were gone, Kansas came stealing 
into the shack again from the shelter of the pines 
behind Wort's cabin, where he had been hiding. 
At once Ross and he advanced on the locked door, 
and without ceremony put their shoulders against 
it and carried it inward, the lock broken. Still 
without words, they felt their way toward the bed 
and, lifting the sleeper, carried him out and 
dumped him on the floor of the kitchen. Closing 
the kitchen door behind them, they bore Dad into 
the bedroom and laid him on the bed. They un- 
337 


ROSS GRANT 


dressed him and then, screening the window with 
a blanket and lighting the lamp, Ross, for the 
second time that night, found his medical knowl- 
edge inadequate. Dad breathed, but Ross could 
not restore him to consciousness. 

The knowledge of his ignorance brought him 
face to face with his determination to bring Dr. 
Scudder to his senses even at the risk of incurring 
his enmity. Waiting only to assure himself that 
Jean still slept under the influence of the opiate, 
although his fever was mounting, Ross and Kan- 
sas turned their attention to the doctor. They 
worked rapidly, for daybreak was approaching, 
when Kansas must go into hiding. They dragged 
the doctor, partially aroused now and gasping his 
protests, out on the ledge and proceeded to dash 
icy water over him. It was a rough but absolutely 
necessary treatment. It was also necessary that 
he should not be allowed to make any noise that 
would attract the attention of a chance man on the 
trail, and when he began to struggle and would 
have cried out in fear and wrath, Ross reluctantly 
grasped his throat and, shaking him into silence, 
impressed on him the fact that the process would 
be repeated if he did not keep still. Then his 
captors dragged him to his feet and compelled 
him, dripping and shivering, to walk between 
them back and forth on the ledge while the damp, 
338 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


snow-chilled wind bit into their very bones and 
the rain slanted against them with the force of a 
sleet. Back and forth they hurried for half an 
hour, Rosses hand still menacing the throat of the 
doctor, whose drug-befogged brain could not yet 
grasp a reason for such usage. 

know it^s rough treatment,^^ Ross muttered 
to him between clenched teeth, but it’s got to be. 
Two men are here injured. They need you, and 
it’s your business to be fit to help them.” 

Over and over he made this appeal to the pro- 
fessional instincts of the man, but the result was 
not encouraging. He had been poisoning his brain 
for too long a period for it to respond readily even 
to the treatment to which the two men were sub- 
jecting him. 

I don’t dare keep this thing up much longer,” 
Ross whispered to Kansas, finally. He’s evi- 
dently not strong at the best, and his indulgence 
of the last few days has made him a mere rag. 
First thing I know I’ll have another sick man on 
my hands instead of a doctor to help out I ” 

Kansas looked up at the eastern sky anxiously. 

The night shift from Seven ’ll be coming back 
any time now, and I’ve got t’ lay low. I’m sorry. 

Doc — I don’t like t’ leave ye ” 

''Of course you must,” said Ross decisively. 
" And I must look out now for Jean. And you’ll 
339 


ROSS GRANT 


have to go over things with Hank again so he will 
understand about Dad/^ 

They took the doctor back into his room, got 
him into dry clothes and dumped him, dazed still 
and shivering, into his easy chair beside the table 
that held the broken hypodermic syringe which 
stood for the wrecking of his profession and his 
home, his health and his will power. He sank 
back in the blanket which Ross had wrapped 
about him, his head rolled helplessly over one 
shoulder, his sensitive face drawn, his chin 
dropped and his mouth agape, his long delicate 
fingers dirty and helpless, genius drugged by habit, 
the most disgusting spectacle, Ross thought, that 
he had ever seen. 

The boy leaned over Dad a minute and then 
turned again to the easy chair. Do you know,” 
he burst out finally, I feel like kicking him ! I^d 
like to rope him and tie him and put him into a 
sanitorium where they treat such men. We need 
him about as badly as it^s possible and — look at 
himl” 

The doctor began to snore, long gurgling gasp- 
ing snores. Ross, with disgust written on every 
feature, lowered the back of the Morris chair, put 
the helpless head in an easier position, threw 
another blanket over him and left him, twisting 
and jerking uneasily and nervously. The rough 

340 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


treatment to which he had been subjected had 
broken through his deepest stupor. 

“ Better let hm sleep a while, and then pour hot 
coffee down Kansas advised as Ross left the 
room. 

By six o^clock the shack had assumed a normal 
aspect outwardly as Harve and Boots came in to 
report progress to Ross ; Hank, to whom Kansas 
had made necessary explanations, was getting 
breakfast stolidly and with as much racket as he 
could compass in his deaf state. This was to divert 
attention from any possible sounds issuing from 
the room which held Jean and Kansas and Mucker. 
The door of this room was closed as usual. So 
was the doctor’s, but his snores were audible. Jean 
still slept. Dad still breathed. 

** Well,” Ross called before Boots and Harve 
reached the door, what’s the news?” 

He had opened the drafts of the stove and stood 
over it with the same restful feeling as he would 
have had on the rim of an active volcano. A 
wet broom and a pail of dirty water occupied the 
center of the floor, ostentatiously proclaiming that 
the floor was wet because of a recent scrubbing. 
Ross did not care to have the experience with 
Fatty repeated. But his visitors were so tired and 
sleepy they could scarcely keep their eyes open, 
let alone observing housekeeping operations. 

341 


ROSS GRANT 


“ The best news fer us/^ returned Boots in an- 
swer to Rosses question, is that we^re goin’ t^ git 
a snatch of sleep now. It'll be th' first I've had 
in forty-eight hours." 

He leaned against the door-jamb and pressed a 
hand over his eyes, adding, “ Every one's about 
all in, what with the Fourth 'n' then this. It'll 
take two days t' break int' Seven, and when we 
git there " He threw out both hands. 

" And Kansas ? " asked Ross huskily. “ Did 
you run on his trail, either of you ? " 

Nope," briefiy, " but Harve here put 'im up f 
th' sheriff, and I expect Wyomin' is bein' combed 
fer 'im right now." 

In the midst of this speech Ross's ears, strained 
backward, caught a moan from his room and his 
heart crowded into his throat. If Jean came out 
of his stupor while the men were there, the whole 
precarious scheme might fall through. 

" I do believe," exclaimed Ross loudly, on the 
heels of Boots' words, " I do believe that Hank 
gets noisier every day of his life." 

He stepped back and slammed the kitchen door, 
whereupon the clattering of pots and pans became 
louder. 

" How's the upper camp coming on ? " he then 
asked as carelessly as he was able. Helping, are 
they?" 


342 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


Boots scowled although he nodded, “ Yep, they ^re 
on the job.” 

‘‘ Good for the upper camp I ” exclaimed Ross, 
with a show of enthusiasm. 

Boots^ scowl deepened. He did not meet Rosses 
eyes. “ Oh — yes, they^re workin^ well enough — 
now,” shortly. 

They^re usin^ their tongues — some of ^em — 
faster^n their hands,” added Harve. Ye see it’s 
got on their nerve — yer sendin’ fer Razorback. 
That’s what’s eatin’ ’em now. They know if 
Razorback gits here he’ll prove Dad’s claim on 
Seven is right.” 

Oh I ” exclaimed Ross, and the exclamation 
was almost a groan. He had found that letter, 
and the camps’ knowledge of it confronting him 
at every turn, sometimes for the good of all con- 
cerned, but now 

*‘Jest ye wait ’til Dad’s found,” threatened 
Boots darkly from the door stone, **and then 
we’ll settle with th’ upper camp I ” 

Ross, conscious of Dad’s presence a dozen feet 
away, shivered. 

Just then voices were heard on the trail and 
Boots and Harve ran out on the ledge. Ross 
followed more slowly. He knew what was com- 
ing, and his knees had a tendency to give way. 
Suppose, after all, neither he nor Kansas had 
343 


ROSS GRANT 

rightly read the men's attitude toward the 
Greasers ! 

Up the trail noisily, according to Kansas' direc- 
tions, although the noise was somewhat forced, 
came the Mexicans, bearing the sick Rodrigo. 

The Greasers 1 " shouted Boots. Kansas' 
Greasers I Where'd they come from ? How'd 
they git Rod off'n Dundee? Where'd they leave 
Kansas ? " 

Hearing the voices, the Mexicans looked up, 
saw the Americans who had fired on the Browns, 
faltered and turned back. 

With a bound Ross pushed ahead of Boots and 
Harve, shouting, Come back, here I " 

He ran, gesticulating frantically as he called. 
The Mexicans paused uncertainly. They did not 
understand the words, but the gestures carried a 
meaning. 

Ross turned to the Americans. They're afraid 
of you. Let me go down and fetch 'em up. They 
know me. I guess they're bringing Rodrigo to 
me to be doctored. It looks that way. They trust 
me, and they're afraid of you." 

“ We ain't out after their hides ! " cried Boots. 
** They're nothin' but paid Greasers," contemptu- 
ously. “ Git 'em t' come back, and we can find 
out where Kansas has gone." 

Ross, relieved by this assurance, led the way, 
344 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


motioning to the Mexicans. He was followed 
closely by Boots and Harve, who excitedly over- 
whelmed them with questions which they could 
not understand. They talked volubly, however, 
pointing to the top of Gales Ridge just as Kansas 
had pointed, and in their jargon were the repeated 
names of Kansas and Jean. This the Gales Ridge 
men understood, but the rest of the talk was lost 
on them. Kansas had directed them, in case they 
found any one who understood them, to tell all 
they knew about the affair, except the rescue of 
Dad. They were to leave out all reference to Dad, 
which would lead to leaving out all reference to 
Ross. Kansas had given them these directions 
confidently, knowing that he and Jean were the 
only ones in Miners’ who could make much head- 
way in understanding the Mexicans or being un- 
derstood by them. Therefore, when he told them 
they might tell how they had escaped and lead 
any one to the mouth of the natural tunnel, he 
knew that it would be some time before, by the 
use of patience and the sign language, the Ameri- 
cans would be much wiser than they were now. 
He also instructed his employees to trust Doc 
Tenderfoot. 

Therefore, after having in vain tried to make 
the men understand about the passage by which 
they had escaped, they turned to Ross. He 
345 


ROSS GRANT 


directed them in gestures to carry Rodrigo into 
the office and lay him on a bench, and then to go 
up to the bunk house with Boots and Harve. He 
drew a long breath of relief when one more step in 
the plan was successfully taken and he was left 
alone with Rodrigo. 

His relief, however, was short lived, for, as he 
stopped a moment to make the Mexican more 
comfortable, suspicious sounds began to penetrate 
the office. The doctor was coming out of his 
stupor, amazed at finding another man in his bed. 
It was evident, also, despite the closed doors, that 
Jean Brown was delirious. Ross was needed in 
three rooms at once, and needed badly. Alarmed 
and distracted, he had opened the doctor’s door 
when he heard the most alarming sound of all — 
men’s voices again outside the shack. 

He slammed the doctor’s door and opened the 
outer door. Some of the Gales Ridge shift who 
had been at work on the wreck of Seven all night 
were turning in leisurely beneath the pines bound 
for the office. For a moment Ross’s legs as well 
as his brain refused to work. His imagination 
only was active, and showed him Kansas captured 
in the heart of the hostile camp, the discovery of 
Dad and the immediate clash between the camps. 
At his own dilemma his imagination balked. As 
a neutral playing between the camps he would be 
34b 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


more than discredited because no one would be- 
lieve his good intentions except Dad — and Dad 
might never be conscious enough to defend him. 

At this instant Dr. Scudder’s dull, unsteady 
voice reached him. Why — here’s a man — it’s 
Dad ! What’s doing here — now, I wonder ” 

Then Boss’s legs moved. They carried him in 
the direction of the pines. His brain worked also. 
He called hastily : 

“ See here, boys I I’ve got a sick man in here, 
and no place to put him except the office. They’ll 
tell you all about it up at the bunk house. It’s 
Rodrigo. The Mexicans from Eight brought him 
in. They say that the Browns went over in that 
direction,” pointing up the side of Gales Ridge. 
” But tell the boys not to come in here again until 
I give the word. Dr. Scudder’s useless ; I’ve got 
to take care of Rodrigo, and it won’t do to have 
the door flying open on him in this wind and 
rain.” 

The shift scarcely waited to yell, ** All right. 
We’ll tell ’ em,” so anxious were they to reach the 
bunk house, the Mexicans and additional informa- 
tion. The rear man stopped though to call back 
with a scowl, ” While we’re gittin’ shet of dis- 
agreeable parties in Miners’ we might as well 
send that good-fer-nothin’ doctor down the 
trail ! ” 


347 


ROSS GRANT 


Ross, without replying, hurried back to the olfice, 
closed the door and propped it shut with a bench. 
He also closed the two half sashes by which sounds 
might escape. Hope revived and lent him strength 
and steadiness. The injunction he had laid on 
the men, and the explanation leading to it was 
too sensible and casual to excite any suspicions. 
Resolutely shutting out the thought of further 
difficulties, he gave his entire attention to the work 
in hand and spent a strenuous hour unsustained 
by the breakfast he could not take time to eat. He 
hurried into the doctor’s room first and found him 
clinging shakily to the head of the bed, while he 
looked at Dad with a glimmer of professional in- 
terest. There was also a faint exhibition of pride 
in the pains he took to enunciate distinctly the 
single question, “ Sick ? ” as Ross entered. 

The boy leaned over Dad and replied slowly 
that every word might pierce the dulled intelli- 
gence of the physician : “ He’s not conscious, Dr. 
Scudder, and I can’t revive him. You must. 
Understand? I want you to find out what’s the 
matter with him. He’s alive, but that’s all I know 
about it.” 

Without waiting for further developments he 
raced through the kitchen and burst into the 
lean-to where Kansas stood over his brother hold- 
ing him in the bunk and attempting to keep him 
348 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 

quiet. Mucker sat in a corner playing with the 
jack-knife Kansas had given him, and eating 
candy. 

'‘Doc,'^ said Kansas in a low, despairing tone, 

it's no use. The game’s up ! Jean’s bad off, 
and I can’t keep ’im still. He’ll be heard 
and ” 

“ I can put him to sleep again,” said Ross hur- 
riedly “ It’s necessary, and I’ve got to do it. 
Dr. Scudder is coming to himself, and I’ve hit on 
a plan to keep the men out of the way — and,” 
stoutly, “ the game isn’t up.” 

In a few words he told how he had warned the 
men out of the office and then taking Kansas’ 
place beside the bunk, directed him to go into 
the doctor’s room, dose the latter with strong coffee 
and feed him also with the situation as he was able 
to take it in, and get him if possible at work on 
Dad. 

By that time I’ll be there with you,” added 
Ross. ** I don’t know enough about this business 
to know how quickly we can get either his mind 
or his fingers to working.” 

Kansas turned toward the door. All right. 
Doc. I’ll see what I can do with Dr. Scudder.” 

Even in the stress of the moment Ross noticed 
that Kansas did not abbreviate the man’s title, 
and spoke of him only indirectly in disrespect. 

349 


ROSS GRANT 


Dr. Scudder had a personality which commanded 
a species of awe, despite his habit. 

That morning was the longest and most trying 
that Ross had ever experienced. Had it not been 
for Kansas he would have exploded into inch 
pieces,'^ as he said later, so distracted was he by a 
realization of the needs of Jean and Dad and the 
utter inability of the doctor to rise to those needs. 

I feel,” he told Kansas desperately, as though 
I must knock Dr. Scudder down and pound him 
into action I If only he could revive Dad enough 
so that he could be told of the whole affair and 
could talk and think, I know Dad would find a 
way out for us all.” 

For you, perhaps,” Kansas muttered. 

Ross turned on him quickly. You don't know 
Dad if you think he wouldn't work like a trooper 
to save you and Jean — just as you saved him 
— I know he would. That's Dad every time. 
He'll fight you when you're in a position to be 
fought, but when he sees you down and out — 
well, you wait! If only we can bring him — 
back — you'll see I'm right.” 

Kansas made no reply, and they continued to 
labor with the doctor. They threatened and 
cajoled him. They gave him strong coffee. 
They stood him in front of the open sash with 
the wind in his face. They pleaded with him to 
350 


IN MINERS' CAMP 

exert himself, while they walked the floor drag- 
ging him between them, his fine eyes vacant, his 
numbed will making vain eflbrts to regain its 
normal control of his wrecked body. Finally 
their efforts were rewarded to the extent that he 
was able to attempt an examination of Dad. 

Meanwhile the rain had ceased, and the sun 
shone into the canon. The Gales Ridge day shift, 
accompanied by the Mexicans, had gone down the 
trail without stopping at the office. The moun- 
tains echoed only with the blasts from the wreck- 
age at Seven. The company mines stood idle. 
Both camps worked in Dundee with an outward 
show of harmony while the man they were dig- 
ging to find was coming slowly back to conscious- 
ness under the uncertain directions and ministra- 
tions of a physician whose brain was not yet 
clear and whose nerves were again demanding 
the stimulant which had been pitched out of the 
window. 

When the clock on a shelf over the bed struck 
twelve, to Rosses relief. Dad’s eyes opened lan- 
guidly. He did not speak but, rolling his head 
over, looked at Ross and moved his lips. The 
boy leaned over and exclaimed joyfully : 

Hang on to yourself. Dad, and stay awake. 
You’ll be talking in a few minutes.” 

Then he tore himself away from the room and 

351 


ROSS GRANT 


started for the lean-to, leaving Dr. Scudder sitting 
on the side of the bed, his fingers on the sick 
man^s pulse, while Kansas stood beside him. 

Presently the doctor arose and going to the 
medicine cupboard in the office returned with a 
bottle containing a liquid that in the sunlight 
shone like amber. With an unsteady hand he 
drained his coffee cup, and raised the bottle. As 
he tipped it over the cup his hand lurched and 
the contents of the bottle slopped freely into the 
cup. Holding it unsteadily he made his way care- 
fully toward the bed. Kansas, anticipating his 
intention, lifted Dad’s head carefully. Dr. Scud- 
der advanced the cup, Kansas’ steady hand closed 
over his, and together they had brought the 
portion to the sick man’s lips just as Ross entered 
the room. 

The boy gave one glance at the bottle and one 
at the cup and then, with an inarticulate cry of 
terror, he leaped at the bed and struck down the 
cup, involuntarily hurling the doctor back against 
the table. 

swallow that!” Ross shouted hoarsely. 
“ Listen, Dad I DonH swallow ! ” Then to Kansas, 
as he raised Dad to a sitting posture, Water. ” 

Dr. Scudder fell back against the table, hitting 
his head a numbing blow on the edge. He lay 
there a moment unnoticed, and then slowly 
352 


IN MINERS' CAMP 


crawled to his knees and from there up into his 
Morris chair. He pressed his shaking hands a 
moment against his aching head and then reached 
for the bottle and for the first time read its label 
aright, Sol. Ars.^^ The trembling in his hands 
passed through his entire body. He looked at the 
bed where Ross was forcing Dad to rinse out his 
mouth again and again. Then his head sank to 
his arms on the table. 

What is it?’^ asked Kansas in an agitated 
voice. 

Enough arsenic to put you and a few more 
like you out of commission, answered Ross 
bluntly. “ How he ever came to land on Solution 
of Arsenic is beyond me Oh ! in sudden en- 

lightenment he turned to the doctor, “ you were 
after a stimulant, aromatic spirits of ammonia, 
weren^t you ? " 

There was a feeble assent from the bowed head, 
and Ross plunged into the office, produced the 
stimulant and administered a spoonful to Dad. 
Just then Jean’s voice, raised in delirium, cut 
through the shack, and Mucker came fearfully to 
the door of the doctor’s room. 

I’m afraid,” whimpered Mucker. “ I’m goin’ 
out. He makes a awful noise.” 

Kansas laid a strong hand on Mucker’s shoulder. 
** Ye’re not goin’ outside that door, d’ye hear, 
353 


ROSS GRANT 

Mucker ? He pointed to the outer door of the 
office. 

Then suddenly struck by an idea, he propelled 
the boy into the kitchen and turned him over 
to Hank. Hank promptly provided him with a 
pair of shears and the colored pages of an Eastern 
Sunday paper, and Mucker, contented, settled 
down beside the table and soon had a gay array of 
paper figures standing up in the cracks between 
the rough pine boards. 

Meantime Ross had hurried to Jean, and found 
him standing in the middle of the floor, flushed 
and wild eyed, gesticulating with his sound arm 
and insisting that Dad had no idea he was daily 
walking over a crevice which cut the tunnel of 
Eight. 

His fever^s sky high,^^ said Ross to Kansas who 
followed him. He's got to have help, but where 
from ? " 

Kansas' face fell into heavy lines. “ Not from a 
doctor who tries t' pour arsenic down a sick man's 
throat I " he returned bitterly. 

Together they put the delirious man back into 
his bunk. 

You stay with him now," said Ross, not meet- 
ing Kansas' eyes, and do — what you can to keep 
him still." 

Kansas searched the boy's face. ** Doc, can't ye 
354 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


give 4m more of that? ” He motioned toward the 
hypodermic needle that lay on the table. 

“ I don4 dare give him any more inside of — say 
two hours, Kansas. I don’t dare. It might be 
safe ; an experienced doctor would know what to 
do, but I don’t. I’ve come to the end of my rope 
with him.” 

Kansas said no more, but his face was gray as he 
bent over Jean and spoke soothingly to him, while 
Ross returned to Dad, who had fallen again into a 
stupor. But his heart action was stronger and his 
breath came more regularly. Encouraged by these 
signs Ross worked over him feverishly, for in his 
intelligent cooperation only, it seemed to the boy, 
lay the safety of the Browns. Every time Jean’s 
voice was raised irrepressibly, Ross’s heart stood 
still. That delirious shout might be heard as far 
away as the trail, and it was only a matter of hours 
when there would be ears on the trail to hear. If 
only Dad would recover sufficiently to listen and 
take command I He had evidently been stunned 
by the explosion and suffocated by the foul air of 
the tunnel. His recovery was only a matter of a 
short time, but time was precious with matters in 
their present state, and Dr. Scudder, his head on 
his arms, his body shaken by long, shuddering 
breaths, refused to move or speak. 

“Dad, can you hear me?” Ross implored a 
355 


ROSS GRANT 


dozen times during the afternoon, and a dozen 
times Dad^s eyes opened and closed again — his 
only reply — while from the lean-to arose the 
strength of voice that Dad lacked, and a fatal 
strength it must prove to be shortly, when the day 
shift came back from Dundee and the night shift 
went trooping down past Worths shack. 

The clock was striking five when Kansas called 
sharply from the kitchen, Doc, ye must give Jean 
somethin^ t’ keep ^im still — ye must ! ” desperately. 

Ross drew a long breath and went to the medi- 
cine cupboard. He found a bottle and carried it 
into the lean-to. Kansas, the perspiration run- 
ning down his pale face, was holding Jean in the 
bunk by main force and covering his mouth with 
a necessarily harsh hand to stifle his hoarse shouts. 
Ross approached the bunk and stopped. 

Kansas,'^ he said hesitatingly, if you say so 
1^11 give your brother this knock-out dose. I 
donT know, mind, whether I ought to or not — he^s 
had some stiff doses already through the needle. 

‘‘Something's got t' be done. Doc." Kansas 
wiped away the sweat from his face. “ HeTl be 
heard and then " He did not finish. 

Ross held the cup to the sick man’s lips and he 
was finally induced to drink. 

Shortly after the opiate began to take effect. 
With unspeakable relief Kansas saw Jean’s frantic 
356 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


struggles weaken, his bloodshot eyes close, his 
hoarse rantings sink to mutters. To Ross, how- 
ever, the moments were full of anxiety. He stood 
with his fingers on Jean^s unsteady pulse, his fore- 
head creased in a vain effort to recall any instruc- 
tions his uncle might have given him to apply in 
such a case. 

Kansas, wandering about the room, came to the 
shelf on which lay the Book of Forgetfulness. He 
picked it up abstractedly and opened it. Then, 
seeing by the penmanship inside that it was pri- 
vate, he hastily restored it to the shelf, saying awk- 
wardly, I didn't know. Doc, that it wa’n't fer 
general readin'." 

Look it over," urged Ross, “ and I'll tell you 
what it is — I'd like to." 

He turned to the telling with relief, a respite 
from the nightmare of suspense and anxiety which 
held the shack in its thrall. He soon had Kansas 
listening with interest and, presently, he found 
that beneath the relaxed pressure of his fingers 
Jean's pulse was becoming steadier. Therefore, 
from the story of the Book of Forgetfulness and 
his father's connection with it, he went on to tell 
Kansas all he knew about Razorback Jones, and 
how MacFadden must have been sneaking to have 
found out the few facts on which he had built the 
story that was believed by both camps. 

357 


ROSS GRANT 


** I tell you, Kansas, urged Ross, “ Dad means 
to be square in everything he does. If he isn’t it’s 
because he misunderstands things.” 

Kansas, sitting on the corner of the bunk, made 
no reply at first. His face was bent over the book 
at the entry concerning Razorback. 

“ I don’t just see what there is in this business 
of them boundaries t’ misunderstand,” he said 
finally, quietly. When I bought Eight, the man 
that owned it took me to Basin and showed me 
th’ record of Seven all set down in black and 
white. The chap in the office said Dad had 
brought it there himself. I had a surveyor make 
a copy of the record and then survey Eight 
accordingly from the rock that stood in the 
record ” 

But Dad says,” Ross broke in, ** that when you 
found the stakes on Seven didn’t correspond with 
the record you knew there was a mistake.” 

I did,” returned Kansas quietly, ** but I 
reckoned th’ mistake was in th’ stakes and 
not in th’ survey that Dad had accepted himeelf. 
Wouldn’t you ? ” 

Ross hesitated and then said in a puzzled voice, 
Kansas, I don’t know what I believe in the 
matter. When you talk I see it your way and 
when Dad talks I see it his way.” 

“ I reckoned that after Dad had staked out the 
358 


IN MINERS* CAMP 


claim/' Kansas continued, he had changed his 
mind about th' exact location. That was the only 
reasonable thing to believe." 

Ross made no reply. To himself he thought, 
They're both equally strong in their belief. 
Well — what does it matter? It's a question of 
life and death with them both now, instead of 
claim owning and claim jumping." 

After a moment’s silence, Kansas voiced the 
same thought. He arose and replaced the book 
on the shelf. His face was gray and drawn as he 
stood looking out of the window at Dundee. 

Wall, Doc," he said slowly, ** I guess that's all 
in the past. When Mucker set out t' help me — he 
ended things generally. If Dad lives — why — he's 
won out, that's all, right 'r wrong. I’m done fer 
on these mountings. If I can git out with my life 
I’m lucky, and I ain’t hopin’ that any too strong. 
But if I do git out I’ll leave behind me all I’m 
worth — over there in Eight — and I’ll leave my 
reputation here too — for nobody is goin’ t’ believe 
that I didn’t blow up Seven." 

“ We’ll see about that I " retorted Ross obsti- 
nately. The world hasn't come to an end yet I " 
My world has ! " said Kansas abruptly. “ A 
man don't like t' go through life follered by th' 
reputation of stabbin' an enemy in th' back ! " 
Again Ross was silenced by the grim truth. 

359 


ROSS GRANT 


He put Jean^s head in a more comfortable posi- 
tion and left the lean-to without glancing again at 
the figure beside the window. But he carried with 
him a picture of the haggard face and the echo of 
Kansas' words. In the kitchen Mucker was busily 
and happily engaged in cutting out his paper 
figures and sticking them into the cracks of the 
wall, having covered the table. 

“ I found a match," Mucker proclaimed proudly 
to Ross, ** and I helped Kansas, I did I " 

Ross scarcely heard the boast. The sight of 
the boy impressed him anew with the fact that 
although the half-wit had demolished Kansas' 
plans and ruined his future, Kansas had cared for 
him and brought him to a place of safety, passing 
the entire matter over without a word of blame 
— and it was Kansas who had rescued Dad. 

If Dad had been left until the men could reach 
him from the mouth of the tunnel he would have 
been found dead," Ross was thinking when 
Mucker's speech arrested his attention. 

“ I want Bill t' see these," said the boy. I 
hear 'im a-comin' and I want 'im to see." 

‘'Bill I" exclaimed Ross in dismay. He came 
back with a rude jolt to the immediate present and 
its perils. “ I had forgotten the stage — and the 
mail — it's stage night." 

He rushed through the office and out on the 
360 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


ledge. What should he do ? The mail must be 
distributed, and yet it must not be brought into 
the office. There was Worths cabin! He could 
use that as a post-office, but he was expected to 
deal out the mail in person. The men were ac- 
customed to coming and going all the evening — 
and yet his presence in the shack was necessary. 
What should he do ? 

He stopped at Worths cabin and looked back. 
It was perilously near the office and Jean^s voice. 
The opiate was sure to wear off before the mail 
could be distributed, and he dare not administer 
another dose. 

Far down the canon came Bill Travers’ raucous 
cries of ‘‘ Hi there, kittens, git out o’ this 1 Pick 
up yer heels, ye rascals 1 Hit th’ hike 1 ” 

The ‘‘ kittens,” thus persuaded, brought the 
stage into view. It crawled forward to the foot 
of the Gales Ridge trail and stopped. Ross looked 
down at it with strained eyes. Suddenly he 
gasped and dashed his hand across his eyes in the 
suspicion that they were playing him false. Then 
he raced down the trail with a ringing shout. 

Climbing stiffly out of the stage was Dr. Gaynor 
of the University Hospital, and with him was Dr. 
Scudder’s brother. 


361 


CHAPTER XVI 


‘‘the fifty-fifty 

As Ross hurried down the trail, fragments of 
his interview with Dr. Gaynor in April stood 
forth vividly : the latter’s hesitation in speaking 
of Dr. Scudder, together with certain unfinished 

sentences such as, “ Grant, Dr. Scudder is a ” 

also the surgeon’s incomplete declaration that he 
intended to go to Wyoming in the summer, “ to 
make one more attempt ” 

This, in April, had meant nothing to Ross. 
Now, in the light of his knowledge of Dr. Scud- 
der’s habits, he saw in a flash what the end of those 
sentences would have been, and what the two men 
had come prepared to attempt. 

As the surgeon alighted from the stage, his 
squarely-built, strong figure, his well-set, graying 
head, his broad shoulders and calm manner made 
him look to the boy like a heaven-sent bulwark 
against the floods of disaster that were threatening 
to overwhelm the inhabitants of the shack. He 
felt like throwing up his cap and yelling in joyful 
abandon, but before he had an opportunity even 
362 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 

to greet his guests, Bill bawled excitedly over his 
shoulder as he was lifting the mail-bag out of the 
stage : 

Hey, Doc, have you heard anything from Dad 
or got wind of Kansas ? 

The boy's rapid pace slackened, and for a breath- 
less moment he was tongue-tied. It was only 
when Bill repeated his inquiry that he found his 
voice and a satisfactory evasion : 

The men haven't reported anything from 
either of them," he declared, and added hastily : 

You needn't come up. Bill. I can manage the 
mail-bag and these bags all right." 

Bill nodded and drove on to MacFadden's store, 
anxious to hear any news the latter might have 
picked up, leaving Ross shaking hands with the 
newcomers with a grasp that made them wince. 

Your grip and your face don't seem to corre- 
spond to-day," Dr. Gaynor began, rubbing the 
fingers of his right hand tenderly. “ No one as 
pale and big-eyed as you are ought to have such a 
hand on you ! " 

‘‘What's the trouble here. Grant?" asked Scud- 
der directly. ‘‘ We have been hearing rumors of 
trouble ever since we left Meeteetse this morning. 
Who has done what, and how ? " 

“ There isn't time to explain much or to mince 
matters," Ross replied hurriedly. “ We're in a 

363 


ROSS GRANT 


dickens of a scrape here, and Dr. Scudder isn^t in 
any condition to help out 

Mr. Scudder’s eyes and the surgeon's met in- 
stantly, but Ross raced on : ** We've got two des- 
perately sick men on our hands — with the camp 
in a turmoil." 

He faced them for ten minutes, his entire atten- 
tion centered on giving them the essential facts 
of the situation in the least time. But when he 
mentioned Razorback Jones the surgeon halted 
the rush of words with a gesture. 

“ * Razorback Jones,' " he repeated. “ A name 
like that isn’t easily forgotten — nor such an odd 
character. He was the center of interest in the 
ward and among the staff in the hospital. We 
all knew Razorback." 

Ross came a swift step nearer. ** I've written to 

find out his whereabouts " he began. “ Do 

you know " 

The surgeon interrupted briefly : He's dead. 
Died weeks ago. I don't know when." 

Ross fell back. Dead I " he burst out. Dead 
— and with this boundary all unsettled — but then 
— I mustn't stop over him now. We haven't a 
minute to spare." 

He took up his story again where Dr. Gaynor 
had broken it off. In his anxiety he lost sight of 
the age and position of the surgeon and thought 

364 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


of him only as an instrument to be used in better- 
ing the dickens of a scrape.'^ 

There are two things for you to do right 
away,” he ended. ^‘Jean must be kept quiet — 
and Dad made able to talk.” 

A queer expression flashed over the surgeon^s 
face as he quietly took this unconsciously forceful 
order from the flrst year student whom he had 
known only as Number 10 until the letter from 
Dr. Scudder had introduced him as Doc Tender- 
foot.” The expression twitched at his lips and 
died away as he noticed the hollows beneath the 
boy^s eyes and the nervous tension of his bearing. 
** Very well,” he said gravely, I'll do what I 
can.” 

Then the expression returned suddenly and 
twitched his lips into a pleasant smile as Ross, 
slinging the mail-bag over his shoulder, picked up 
a suit case, saying awkwardly but fervently : 

I tell you what ! you look pretty good to me 
to-day I ” 

Then he hurried up the trail in advance of the 
others, dropped the mail-bag in front of Wort's 
cabin, ran into the doctor's shack, informed Kan- 
sas briefly of the new arrivals and was out on the 
ledge again in time to meet them, and tell the 
surgeon just how he had handled Dad and what 
opiates he had given Jean. 

365 


ROSS GRANT 


Jean^s getting noisy again, he exclaimed 
breathlessly. You must keep him quiet if it can 
be done, because Kansas^ life depends on the se- 
crecy of his hiding-place. And you see I’ve got to 
distribute the mail right here at the end of the 
ledge so I can stand the men off from going into 
the shack. Kansas will show you where the medi- 
cines are and the bandages and everything.” 

Suddenly checking himself he blushed furiously, 
stammering, I guess I’m talking pretty fresh, but 
there’s an awful lot depending on you.” 

Neither man made any reply, the mountain climb 
having made them breathless, but Dr. Gaynor 
smiled and dismissed the idea of freshness ” with 
a wave of his hand, while Mr. Scudder’s eyes met 
Ross’s in a friendly fashion as the two disappeared 
inside the shack. 

Ross dumped the mail-bag on Wort’s door stone 
and began to sort the contents. Several times 
Jean’s hoarse cries reached him, bearing frantically 
the name of “ Kansas.” A bundle of newspapers 
slipped from the young postmaster’s fingers. He 
looked up and down the trail nervously and lis- 
tened for the sound of footsteps that would also 
indicate listening ears, but the mountainside seemed 
lifeless and Jean’s voice finally died away. 

Presently the day shift came down the canon 
and climbed the Gales Ridge trail. They were 
366 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


talking angrily. When they swarmed about the 
impromptu postmaster they were too absorbed in 
the object of their anger to notice that his hands 
shook and that he did not seem able to read read- 
ily the plainest directions. Stooping over the door 
stone, the men pulled letters and papers hither and 
thither in search of their own in a way that would 
have horrified a postal inspector. It soon appeared 
from their conversation that they were wrought up 
to concert pitch by an open clash between the 
owners of two claims, situated below Seven and 
Eight respectively. The two men had been sep- 
arated, but ugly things had been said which 
threatened to precipitate a fight between the two 
camps. 

“ We're takin' more of their tongue than we 
would if 'twa'n't that ye're after Razorback Jones," 
Boots explained. I tell th' boys that if we set 

tight 'til he gits here Ye've sent a letter after 

him, hain't ye? " he broke ofiP to ask. 

Ross gulped and stooping tightened his shoe 
lacing. If the hope of Razorback's coming acted 
as a brake on the men's violence he would not yet 
destroy the hope. Therefore he muttered, “ Yes, I 
sent off* a letter about him — on the last stage." 

** I won't stand fer much more from 'em," Harve 
broke out sullenly, “ Razorback 'r no Razorback. 
They can stop talkin' to-morrow 'r " 

367 


ROSS GRANT 


'' What about Seven ? Ross hastened to inter- 
rupt. How near the mouth of the tunnel are 
you ? 

It's been a shorter job than anybody reckoned 
on," returned Boots. “ We found the trees over 
the tunnel had sort of held up the rocks and dirt 
so we could dig easier'n we expected. With good 
luck we'll open up the tunnel to-morrow night. 
But if Dad's there he's likely passed in his checks 
before this," and Boots turned away abruptly. 

“ Once we find out about Dad," added Harve 
resentfully, “ we needn't be beholden t' th' upper 
camp no longer." 

The day shift, bearing their mail, went on up 
the trail, leaving Ross shivering on the door stone. 
He supposed that his chills were merely the result 
of sitting outdoors without his sweater. The dis- 
appearing sun was withdrawing its warmth and 
bringing in the train of its setting the icy breezes 
from the peaks. He hugged his arms against his 
gides, determined to stick to his post until the mail 
had all been distributed, thus guarding against the 
chance of Kansas being seen in the shack. So ex- 
cited were the men over the rising enmity between 
the camps that no one had thought to inquire 
about Rodrigo, whose sickness was the ostensible 
cause of the temporary outdoor post-office. 

Ross sat hunched up on the stone thinking of 
368 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


the morrow^s meeting of the camps and the work 
on Dundee. He knew that the opened tunnel of 
Seven would reveal the way through the floor into 
the natural passage beneath the tunnel. He had 
not heard whether the Mexicans had made them- 
selves understood as to where they had been hid- 
ing, but when the Americans discovered the nat- 
ural passage they would understand how Dad had 
escaped. They would also know that he had been 
carried out injured and had not walked out or he 
would have put in an appearance before this at 
Gales Ridge. Then the rescuers would turn on the 
Mexicans for an explanation, and they would be 
frightened into giving it in full, and some one 
would be found who could understand and inter- 
pret. That explanation would involve him, Ross 
— and what then ? 

He dropped his head wearily on his hand. 
Thinking had become increasingly difficult. He 
could follow this line of reasoning no further. 
All he could do was to cling to the hope that Dr. 
Gaynor would succeed in bringing Dad far enough 
back to consciousness and strength to understand 
the situation and plan to meet it. What the 
injured man could do or would be willing to do 
he could not guess. Whether Dad would believe 
that Kansas did not blow up the tunnel was an- 
other grave conjecture which oppressed him. 

369 


ROSS GRANT 


Just as the last rays of the sun were painting 
the sky in gorgeous colors, and the rising wind 
was cutting through Ross’s shirt sleeves like a 
knife, Mr. Scudder appeared in hat and top coat, 
bearing a plate of food and a sweater. The sight 
of his face, on which good news was written, 
revived the boy more than the sight of Hank’s 
steaming supper. 

That chap you call Kansas,” murmured Scud- 
der, with a hasty look around, told me you’d 
have to stay here the most of the evening. He 
sent these things to you.” 

Thank you,” said Ross gratefully. Then he 
asked eagerly, “ How are things going in there ? ” 
“ All right,” heartily. “ We’ve got the fellow 

in my brother’s room ” 

“ Dad Page,” supplemented Ross. 

Yes ; well, Gaynor’s got Dad Page fully 
awake ” 

Ross checked a joyful shout. 

and the other one fully asleep, but he’s 

in bad shape.” 

Jean ? Yes, I know he is.” 

“ Gaynor says that when you get through here 
so you can help — he thinks the bullet is just be- 
low the skin. The arm is pretty lean — and if my 

brother can be made fit to help also ” 

Ross nodded and moved along on the door 
370 


IN MINERS* CAMP 


stone. Mr. Scudder sat down. A change came 
over his sensitive face. He drew his hat over his 
high forehead as a screen against the frost-bitten 
wind and at the same time Ross felt the invisible 
wall between them behind which Dr. Scudder 
was accustomed to take refuge. Mr. Scudder, the 
successful lawyer, was the counterpart of Dr. 
Scudder, the unsuccessful surgeon, with the one 
exception which had made the one and unmade 
the other — the lawyer was master of his appetites. 

“ Grant, he began quietly, “ tell me, please, all 
that you know of my brother. Just now he is in 
a strange state of terror. What has happened ? 

Ross thought a moment, puzzled. Then, Oh,” 
he exclaimed, the poison I I didnT have time 
to tell you about that down in the canon.” 

They talked in an undertone while darkness fell 
and the wind soughed through the pines above 
them and shadowy figures crunched up and down 
the trail, pausing at the impromptu post-office 
while Ross struck a match and identified the 
figure and the mail belonging to it. They talked 
long after the mail had all disappeared. And as 
the older man realized the younger’s attitude of 
concern, and the way he was shouldering, as a 
matter of course, responsibilities which belonged 
to the camp doctor and not to his assistant, the 
screen of reserve dissolved and Mr. Scudder found 

371 


ROSS GRANT 


himself talking more freely of his brother than he 
had talked for years except to Gaynor. 

“ There are a wife and two children that any 
man might be proud of/^ he said finally, “ and he 
is devoted to them — after his appetite! He has 
come to be more devoted to that than to anything 
else on earth. 

He was awfully cut up over that ‘ Papa Scud- 
der ^ letter/' returned Ross slowly. I think that 
and my distrusting him as a surgeon brought on 
his outburst to me last night about his habits." 

What do you mean by distrusting him as a 
surgeon ? " 

Ross related the incident connected with his 
examination of Mucker's head. The two jolts 
coming together," added the boy, “ sort of knocked 
him out of himself so he could see himself as he is 
for a few minutes. He said he was beyond helping 
himself. He said that there was only one way to 
cure him and no one had the power to do it " 

‘‘ What way ? " quickly. 

Well, he said he was beyond curing himself, 
voluntarily, you know. That the only way was 
for some one to * rope him and throw him,' as 
they say in this country, * and make him quit,' 
but that no one had the authority to do it." 

“ Did he really say that — suggest it ? " exclaimed 
the brother. 


372 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 

Ross nodded. 

Mr. Scudder took his head between his hands, 
his elbows on his knees. There ensued a long 
pause. From Seven came a blast that echoed 
among the peaks. Mr. Scudder arose. His voice 
had in it a peculiar ring well known to his brother 
lawyers in Philadelphia. It was the note which 
crept into his tones when he saw his way to the 
successful end of a case. 

We’ll see I ” he said grimly. “ He has thrown 
himself and given me the rope to tie him I We’ll 
see. It’s a drastic measure, but he’ll thank me for 
it — later.” The speaker hesitated, and then added 
in a lower tone, He’s worth it, too. If you had 
known him ten years ago. Grant, you’d not doubt 
me. We were all proud of him. He promised to 
be a leader in surgery — and now — look at him 
— an opium fiend I ” 

Nothing more was said. Ross, wondering how 
the doctor had provided a rope for his brother’s 
use, and what the drastic measure was, followed 
into the office. He had occupied Wort’s door stone 
for four hours, and during that time the very at- 
mosphere of the doctor’s shack had changed. The 
boy felt the renewed life and hope that the surgeon 
had brought, and he drew a long breath of relief. 

The office was lighted and Dr. Gaynor was 
kneeling in front of the bench on which Rodrigo 
373 


ROSS GRANT 


lay, examining the burned arm. On one end of 
the bench sat Mucker, sucking a stick of candy 
with much noise and content, smiling vacantly 
into the surgeon^s face. 

** This is the boy you spoke of ? asked Scudder 
in a low tone. 

Ross nodded. He merely glanced at Mucker, so 
occupied was he in accounting for all the occupants 
of the shacks. The bedroom door stood open. 
That room was dark but there issued therefrom 
a murmur of voices, one weak and halting. “ Dr. 
Scudder must be in there talking to Dad,^' Ross 
thought. He had started for the bedroom when 
the surgeon’s voice called him back to the bench. 

Dr. Gaynor was examining the Mexican’s arm 
with the gentleness of sympathy and the keen 
interest of a man who glories in his work. 

Grant, come here,” he commanded, and Ross 
obeyed as befitted Number 10 called by his chief. 
Then his heart swelled as the surgeon went on, 
Young man, you told me once you had never 
led your classes. Well, you’ll get to the head of 
your profession all right if you do all your work 
as carefully as you’ve done this,” indicating the 
unbandaged arm. 

The embryo surgeon blushed and stammered 
and could find nothing better to say than, ‘‘ I fixed 
him up as well as I knew how, sir.” 

374 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


Then astonishment swallowed up his embarrass- 
ment, for, chancing to glance into the kitchen 
where Hank was mixing bread for the morrow^s 
baking, he saw Dr. Scudder bending over the 
stove stirring something in a basin. It was not 
he, then, talking to Dad — it was — it must be — 
Kansas. He stepped toward the bedroom door 
and found the doorway mixed up curiously with 
the medicine cupboard beside it. He steadied him- 
self against the cupboard waiting for that queer 
feeling to pass. He pressed his hand over his 
eyes. He'd never had any trouble with them be- 
fore, but the room was hot 

Just then Dad's weak voice came to him: 

Better go tell Doc, Kansas. That'd make him 
feel mighty easy-like in his mind." 

Here the surgeon and the ceiling logs mixed 
themselves up promiscuously. Ross made an 
inarticulate sound and saw three men springing 
toward him, the surgeon, the lawyer and Kansas. 
The next thing he knew he lay in Hank's bunk 
behind the kitchen stove with Dr. Gaynor holding 
a cup to his lips. 

Now, my boy," said the surgeon, ** you drink 
this, and don't let us hear anything more from 
you until morning." 

Ross struggled to get up, saying in a dazed 
tone, '' Aw — don't — now. You see, I'd been out in 
375 


ROSS GRANT 

the cold and it was coming in where it was so 
hot 

Grant, if a few of us are obliged to sit on you 
to hold you down we can do it ! exclaimed Dr. 
Gaynor humorously. “ Drink this now, and 
keep still.’' 

Ross obeyed the first order, but not the last. 
** I want to know something that Kansas is to 
tell me — and then there’s Jean.” He made a 
fresh effort to arise. We’ve got to see Jean.” 

** Jean is being attended to,” said Gaynor per- 
suasively. ” Dr. Scudder is on deck again, and 
his help is worth more even than yours. Grant, 
and I’m finding out what you’re worth.” 

He was pressing the boy back gently into the 
bunk when Kansas hurried through the kitchen 
on his way to his brother. His lean face was 
smiling and his fine eyes glowing. 

“ Doc,” he exclaimed in a tone he sought in 
vain to subdue, Dad’s awake and got a clear 
head. I’m just findin’ Dad out ” 

The surgeon interrupted : Keep right on find- 
ing him out, but let Grant here alone. He’s going 
to sleep now.” 

** But, doctor,” objected Kansas eagerly, I’d 
take it kind of ye if ye’d let me talk t’ him a 
bit ” 

” No more talking to-night,” said Dr. Gaynor 
376 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 

decisively. “He may be talked to all day to- 
morrow, but not to-night/' 

“ But, doctor, there's a few little things " 

“ Few ! " exploded Dr. Gaynor. “ Why Broad- 
way, New York, isn't a patch on this forsaken 
little old mountainous place for real excitement I 
Run along now, and let Grant here rest." 

This argument reached Ross from a great dis- 
tance, and the subject of Dad mixed itself up with 
Mucker. He insisted on telling Dr. Gaynor about 
the Mucker. He knew his father would finance 
an operation on the boy's skull, he muttered, and 
the surgeon could undo the work that Wort had 
done. 

“ His father hit him when he was small," he re- 
peated drowsily, “ and my — my father will pay — 
take him to the University Hospital and oper- 
ate " 

“See here. Grant," came the surgeon's far-away 
voice, “ if you'll promise me you'll stay right in 
this bunk and stop thinking, I promise you that 
I'll attend to that boy's skull. Is this a bargain ? " 

“ Shake — on — it," invited Ross, struggling for 
the words, and reached out a cold hand which 
met the surgeon's warm one over unmeasured 
space. 

But sleep did not come at once. Ross could 
control his body and keep it laid out fiat in the 
377 


ROSS GRANT 


bunk according to directions. His mind was not 
so obliging. The wheels continued to buzz uncon- 
nectedly and confusedly for a few moments. He 
had not written to Nick yet — he must in the 
morning — he heard his own name finally issuing 
from the lean-to not half a dozen feet from where 
he lay. The voice belonged to Kansas, and he 
was telling some one somewhere about the Book 

of Forgetfulness The next thing Ross knew 

the light was streaming into the kitchen from the 
sun just peeping over Dundee, and Hank was 
washing dishes. That was queer. He had seen 
Hank washing dishes only a few moments before, 
the supper dishes. He raised his head. It felt 
queer — uncertain. Oh, yes I He remembered now. 

Made a fool of myself last night,*^ he said 
aloud. “ IFs the morning after now 1 Those are 
the breakfast dishes, not supper.^^ 

He sat up and hung his feet over the edge of 
the bunk. No one had taken the time to remove 
his shoes. He was fully dressed, even to his 
sweater. He crawled out of the bunk and sat 
down on a bench beside the table. Hank, with 
many unintelligible sounds, set coffee and food 
before him. 

I feel,^’ said Ross, equally unintelligibly to 
Hank, “ as though every inch of my body had 
been pounded, thinking apparatus and all."' 

378 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


As he drank his coffee the fog began to clear 
away from his thinking apparatus '' a trifle. He 
noticed that the door leading to the office was 
closed, while the lean-to door stood open. There 
were voices in every direction, too many voices, 
Ross thought languidly, but he could not arouse 
himself sufficiently to understand why he thought 
there were too many. Hank, watchful, refilled 
his coffee cup and as the boy was drinking the 
second cupful, two voices detached themselves 
from more distant sounds and he realized that 
Dr. Scudder and his brother were in Jean’s room, 
just behind him, talking. At least, the brother 
was talking. 

‘‘ There’s a promising young doctor that Gaynor 
thinks would come here and take your place. His 
name is Lambert, and he is an intern in the Uni- 
versity Hospital ” 

Ross stopped eating, and listened frankly and 
eagerly. 

‘‘ and you will come with us,” Mr. Scudder 

continued. 

There was a sharp dissent from the brother, in- 
terrupted authoritatively by the lawyer : 

** It’s come to this, Eugene,” said Mr. Scudder 
steadily. ‘‘ You’ll do one of two things : you’ll 
come with us, Gaynor and me, and give yourself 
over into our hands unreservedly, or you’ll stand 
379 


ROSS GRANT 


trial here for the poison you attempted to give 

that man in there ” 

There was an inarticulate cry from the physi- 
cian, but the lawyer's voice was grim with a stern- 
ness he was far from feeling : Your habits have 
brought you to the threshold of murder. We'll 
call the thing by its correct name — murder- — you, 
Eugene Scudder — a drunken, debauched, would-be 
murderer " 

Again there was a hoarse, pain-racked cry, fol- 
lowed again by the steady determined voice : 

Gay nor knows of a sanitorium, just the place 
for you, and there you'll give up your freedom 
of action for a while in order to regain freedom 
from your awful habit. And, Eugene," the man's 
voice softened, the time will come when you'll 
know I'm being kind rather than cruel, and when 

your wife and children " Mr. Scudder's voice 

stopped abruptly, interrupted by a single groan 
which tore its way from the doctor's heart. 

Ross, whose mind was rapidly sloughing off its 
stupor, dropped his head on his hand. He under- 
stood now how Dr. Scudder had furnished the 
rope by which he could be " thrown and tied." 

'' I'm right down glad," thought Ross, that 
he stumbled on that arsenic and right down glad- 
der that I stopped him from giving it I " 

At that moment he became aware of a new and 
380 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 

alarming stir in the office, sounds of boots and 
voices. 

‘‘ It’s the men I he gasped excitedly. What 
are they doing in there I 

He staggered to his feet and got to the door. 
Opening it, he steadied himself against it and 
looked in. The floor was covered with muddy 
tracks all leading to the bedroom. The outside 
door stood open. On his bench the Mexican was 
huddled in his blanket, his gaze turned toward 
the bedroom expectantly although he could under- 
stand nothing that was going on. Dr. Gaynor 
stood beside the medicine cupboard, his back 
toward Ross, attentively listening to a weak voice, 
Dad^s voice, his hand protectingly on Mucker^s 
head. The near presence of Wort was indicated 
in the boy^s fear-stricken attitude as he crouched 
against the surgeon. 

Ross crept weakly forward and stood behind 
Gaynor, also listening. There was a rustle inside 
the bedroom, the sound of many men's astonish- 
ment. 

And so, boys," Dad was ending, his voice a 
weak quaver, we don't need no Razorback here 
to settle the boundaries. They're settled fer good, 
and'll stand jest where they be. It don't make no 
difference now whether they overlap 'r not. They 
ain't no longer Claims Seven 'nd Eight. I sent 
381 


ROSS GRANT 


fer ye t’ come and hear jest this : Kansas ^nd I are 
pardners now. We’ll work our claims together 
share ’n’ share alike. We’re goin’ t’ call th’ prop- 
erty The Fifty-Fifty Claim, We’ve fixed up th’ 
pardnership with Dr. Scudder. He’s been backin’ 
Kansas unbeknownst to us all, and I know we can 
fix things up with Mr. Grant on account of young 
Doc here bein’ with us. So, go long, boys. Every 
one’s boundary on Dundee will stay exactly where 

it is now, me and Kansas bein’ pards, and ” 

Dad’s voice failed, and the movement in the 
room became general. The men filed out. Mac- 
Fadden came first. Dad had evidently sent for 
some men from the upper camp as well as the 
lower. Behind the storekeeper came Boots. Boots 
looked as subdued as though he had seen a ghost. 
So did all the others as they came out. 

** Pardners — Dad and Kansas ! ” Boots muttered, 
as though to accustom himself to the idea. And 
it was Mucker that blowed Seven up — Dad seen 
’im, but he couldn’t git out of the tunnel in time 
after Mucker lit the fuse — who’d ’a’ thought th’ 

boy was smart enough ” 

‘^And Kansas carried Dad out of that tunnel,” 
said Harve, coming after. It was the curiousest 
thing the way they got shet of theirselves when 
we tried t’ find ’em, and no one suspected another 

way in ” and Harve passed out of the door. 

382 


IN MINERS^ CAMP 


** And t' think of the hand Doc Tenderfoot had 
in the thing I exclaimed Fatty, treading on 
Harveys heels. “ Who would think Doc had it in 
hm — and him so strict on the water wagon. 

An hour later, while the stage waited at the foot 
of Gales Ridge, Ross wrote two letters, one to Nich- 
olas Page, a joyful although somewhat incoherent 
epistle, the second, a brief note to his father con- 
cerning the new partnership. 

The shack was quiet, its very atmosphere charged 
with peace and calm. In the doctor^s bedroom 
Dad slept, wearied by the exertion of talking with 
the men. In the lean-to Jean, in a slow progress 
toward recovery, lay motionless, staring at the side 
logs. On the floor beside him, rolled in a blanket, 
Kansas snored. Mucker sat happily beside the 
kitchen table rearranging his paper flgures, uncon- 
scious of the long journey ahead of him, and of 
the operation which. Dr. Gaynor believed, would 
counteract the damaging effects that ill-treatment 
had had bn the boy mentally. Rodrigo lay in 
front of the office heater, watching the flames 
through the cracks in the stove and smoking lazily. 
He was well fed and well cared for, therefore, con- 
tent. The Scudders, with Dr. Gaynor and the 
stage driver, had considerately left the shack. 

After finishing the letter he thought of the Book 
of Forgetfulness. It was near the time set for its 

383 


ROSS GRANT 


return, and he decided he would enclose it with his 
letter. Tiptoeing into his room, he looked first 
on the shelf where it usually lay. . It was not there. 
Finally, he found it on the table beneath some of 
Mr. Scudder^s possessions, and, to his surprise, the 
last page was scrawled over in a large, running 
hand. Returning to the office, he examined the 
page. At the bottom were the signatures of the 
Scudders, Dr. Gaynor and Kansas Brown. Ross 
screwed up his forehead in perplexity, and began 
to read. At the head of the page stood the words. 
To Mr. Ross Grant, Senior.'' Following this 
address was a message which caused the reader to 
blush furiously in embarrassment at the same time 
he was grinning with delight, for the message read : 

“ If you are looking for a safe and profitable in- 
vestment, yielding an interest which promises a 
steady increase with his advancing years and fur- 
ther education, permit us to recommend your son, 
Ross Grant, Jr., named out here in the Shoshones 
— Doc Tenderfoot." 


The Stories in this Series are : 
ROSS GRANT, TENDERFOOT 
ROSS GRANT, GOLD HUNTER 
ROSS GRANT ON THE TRAIL 
ROSS GRANT IN MINERS’ CAMP 


384 


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